GEM Equity Funds Break New Record

In the week ended October 20, GEM equity funds pulled in $3.76bn, posting record inflows for the second time in the past 3 weeks, says EPFR Global. LatAm funds meanwhile, have taken in fresh money for 10 straight weeks, bringing total inflows since the beginning of the year to $10.83bn. Brazil funds, which have seen inflows of $2.28bn since the beginning of September, were the most favored LatAm funds despite the increase of the IOF tax to 6.00% from 4.00%, EPFR says. Still, Lipper data show that performance of LatAm equity funds was negative, dropping 3.07% in the week ended October 21. Year-to-date the funds are up 13.90%. EM funds lost 1.37% in the week, but are up 15.17% ytd and global small and mid-cap funds lost 0.76% in the week and are up 13.75% ytd.