Local Currency Bond Funds Gain

EM bond fund flows in Q1 were characterized by strong outflows from hard currency funds countered by inflows into local currency funds, according EPFR Global. “Flows in EM bond funds continued to be a tale of two currency groups,” observes the data tracker. EM domestic bond funds took in $2.4bn in the quarter, while euro, yen and dollar-denominated EM bond funds lost $1.8bn. By returns, EM funds gained 0.02% in the week ending March 27, according to Lipper. Global income funds and international income funds gained 0.09% and 0.47%, respectively. High yield funds had the strongest gain of the week with 0.92%, while target maturity funds experienced the week’s most significant loss at 2.13%.