Fund flow data for the week ended 25 March showed lackluster flows after the FOMC meeting, according to Standard Chartered research notes.
- Institutional investors continue to drive flows across asset classes as retail investors remain sidelined.
- European risk assets, both equity and high-yield (HY) funds, remained the bright spots, receiving consistent inflows as quantitative easing continued to support risk sentiment in the region.
- Flows into US risk assets were mixed, with US equity funds witnessing large outflows from both institutional and retail investors, while US HY funds received moderate inflows from institutional investors.
- Developed-market (DM) bond funds received modest inflows during the week, driven primarily by institutional accounts.
- Emerging-market (EM) bond funds saw very small inflows; investors maintained their preference for hard-currency (HC) over local-currency (LC) funds, though the picture may change in the coming weeks with the recent post-FOMC weakness in the USD.
- Outflows from EM bond funds were driven largely by retail investors.
- EM equity funds continued to see outflows in the week ended 25 March.
- AXJ-domiciled funds also witnessed outflows, led by China-domiciled funds.
