U.S. equity funds see outflows for 12th week in a row

(Reuters) – Investors continued to withdraw from U.S. equity funds for a 12th straight week in the seven days to Feb. 8 as a report showing robust U.S. job additions in the last month fed fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep raising interest rates this year.

Refinitiv Lipper data showed investors exited a net $474 million worth of U.S. equity funds after disposing of $473 million worth of funds in the previous week.

GRAPHIC: Fund flows: US equities, bonds and money market funds (https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/egpbyaeeqvq/Fund%20flows%20US%20equities%20bonds%20and%20money%20market%20funds.jpg)

U.S. large- and mid-cap equity funds saw outflows of $3.82 billion and $675 million, respectively, but investors purchased $2.16 billion worth of small-cap funds.

However, investors accumulated some sector-specific funds, with financials and tech witnessing inflows of $1.22 billion and $430 million, respectively.

GRAPHIC: Fund flows: US equity sector funds (https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/gkplwdkkovb/Fund%20flows%20US%20equity%20sector%20funds.jpg)

Meanwhile, U.S. bond funds continued to obtain inflows for the fifth week, amounting to a net $2.39 billion.

U.S. general domestic taxable fixed income funds obtained $678 million, while short/intermediate investment-grade funds received $1.98 billion, marking a fifth weekly inflow. But investors drew $2.26 billion out of government bond funds.

GRAPHIC: Fund flows: US bond funds (https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/znvnbkmodvl/Fund%20flows%20US%20bond%20funds.jpg)

Meanwhile, investors exited $19.78 billion worth of money market funds, their biggest weekly net selling in seven weeks.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely)

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