April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. money market funds received
inflows for a fifth straight week after recent data pointed to a
still-strong labor market, bolstering bets for a rate hike by
the Federal Reserve in May.
According to Refinitiv Lipper data, U.S. money market funds
drew a net $20.51 billion worth of inflows in the week to April
12. It was, however, the smallest weekly net purchase since
March 8.
Investors are favoring money market funds over bank deposits
amid a rally in short-term interest rates, with the real
interest rate turning positive by some measures, analysts said.
The yield on the 3-month U.S. Treasury bill , in
which money market funds invest the most, surged to a near
16-year high of 5.175% on Thursday.
Meanwhile, equity funds saw outflows dropping to a
three-week low of $1.09 billion.
U.S. small-cap equity funds obtained $490.3 million worth of
inflows after facing three weekly outflows in a row, but large-,
and mid-cap funds recorded $919 million and $276 million worth
of withdrawals, respectively.
Investors purchased U.S. communication services and
financial sector funds of $951 million and $661 million,
respectively, while selling $658 million worth of healthcare
funds.
Meanwhile, U.S. bond funds obtained $1.7 billion worth of
inflows when compared with $8.97 billion worth of net buying in
the previous week.
U.S. government bond funds received $2.44 billion worth of
inflows, the smallest amount in eight weeks, while loan
participation, and U.S. short and intermediate investment-grade
funds saw outflows of $542 million and $264 million,
respectively.
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Fund flows: U.S. domiciled equities, bonds and money market
funds Fund flows: U.S. equity sector funds Fund flows: U.S. bond funds ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in
Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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