Funds Flow into LatAm Equities

In the week ended January 5, LatAm equity funds had inflows of $707m, making it their best week since October, says EPFR Global. Investors sought exposure to Brazil’s commodities and the possibility that new president Dilma Rousseff will tackle some long-running structural issues. In the same week, flows into Brazil equity funds hit a 13-week high of $676m. However, Mexico equity funds, one of the few fund groups to set outflow records in 2010, suffered further redemptions worth $71m. Meanwhile, EM equity funds saw inflows of $3.3bn, kicking off the New Year with their best week, in flow terms, since mid-November, EPFR says. LatAm equity funds, however, saw performance deteriorate, losing 0.51% in the week ended January 6, according to Lipper. EM equities were up 0.77% and global small and mid-caps were up 0.21%.