Jan 2 (Reuters) – Global equity funds saw strong inflows in the final week of 2025 as optimism over AI-driven market gains over the past year and a solid corporate earnings outlook lifted risk appetite.
According to LSEG Lipper data, global equity funds attracted $26.54 billion of net inflows during the week, following about $37.05 billion of net purchases the previous week.
The MSCI World Index rose 20.6% in 2025, its strongest annual performance since a 24.05% gain in 2019.
Analysts expect corporate earnings to grow 12.11% in 2026, in line with the 12.32% growth forecast for 2025, according to LSEG data covering 11,811 large- and mid-cap companies
Including the most recent week’s purchases, global equity funds recorded about $239.76 billion in net inflows over the past year, compared with roughly $453.58 billion of net inflows in 2024.
During the latest week, investors added $16.89 billion to U.S. equity funds, marking a second consecutive week of net purchases. European and Asian equity funds also saw weekly inflows of $5.75 billion and $2.67 billion, respectively.
Sectoral equity funds gained a net $1.73 billion in weekly inflows with financial, real estate and industrial sectors drawing a net $574 million, $413 million and $337 million, respectively. Healthcare still saw a net $510 million in weekly outflows.
Global bond funds, meanwhile, posted $1.97 billion of net outflows, their first weekly sales since April 16. Despite the setback, bond funds attracted $891.74 billion of net inflows in 2025, following $1.05 trillion in net inflows in 2024.
Short-term bond funds saw withdrawals of about $5.23 billion after a sizeable $10.16 billion net purchase the previous week. Euro-denominated bond funds, corporate bond funds and government bond funds, however, recorded weekly inflows of $1.14 billion, $1.13 billion and $765 million, respectively.
Investors also parked $79.4 billion into the safety of money market funds as they ended a three-week selling trend in these funds.
Gold and precious metals commodity funds were popular for an eighth straight week, with roughly $2.03 billion in net weekly inflows.
In emerging markets, bond funds saw a $1.1 billion net outflow as investors ended a five-weeks-long buying trend. They, however, snapped up $242 million worth of equity funds, data for a combined 28,544 funds showed.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
