By Reuters

(Reuters) - Weekly inflows into global equity funds surged to a more than 17-month high in the week through ‌April 22, fuelled by optimism over demand for artificial intelligence ‌and robust first-quarter earnings from some major U.S. banks.

According to LSEG Lipper data, global ​equity funds attracted net weekly investments of $48.72 billion, the largest sum for a week since November 13, 2024.

Shares of TSMC, the world's biggest contract manufacturer of advanced AI chips, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip supplier SK ‌Hynix hit record highs ⁠this week, bolstered by upbeat earnings.

U.S. equity funds drew $27.98 billion, the most in four weeks, while European and ⁠Asian funds saw net inflows of $18.41 billion and $157 million, respectively.

Sector funds attracted a net $8.22 billion, marking their largest weekly inflows in three months, led ​by technology, ​industrials, and metals and mining, which ​drew $6.21 billion, $1.82 billion, and $1.02 billion, ‌respectively.

Bond fund inflows rose by nearly a third to $12.85 billion, from $9.78 billion, a week ago.

Investors pumped a net $3.13 billion into hard currency bond funds in their largest weekly net purchase since March 18. Meanwhile, outflows from short-term bond funds eased to $2.21 billion from $7.08 billion the ‌week before.

Money market funds saw a second ​successive weekly outflow to the tune of $20.26 ​billion after the prior ​week's $173.09 billion weekly net sales.

Investors extended their recent streak ‌of net purchases in gold and ​other precious metals ​funds into a fourth successive week, investing a net $841 million in these funds.

Emerging market funds were in demand for a third ​straight week as ‌investors added $4.34 billion into equity funds and $3.64 billion into bond ​funds, data for a combined 28,853 funds showed.

(Reporting by Gaurav ​Dogra; Editing by Varun H K)

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