EM fund flows back to normal; non-ETF fund flows improve. While all eyes were on the US presidential election in the week to 7 November, EM funds recorded strong inflows of $2.4bn, vs $920mn during the week before. Contrary to the trends we have seen over preceding weeks, almost 50% of inflows were into non-ETF funds.

Asia still in the limelight. Non-region-specific GEM funds recorded the biggest inflows during the week, of $1.8bn. On a regional basis, Asia ex. Japan inflows decelerated to $760mn, but this remained one of the strongest regions in the EM universe. Chinese funds inflows slowed to $350mn, although once again China was the country with the strongest inflows. Latin American funds recorded marginal outflows over the week, of $2mn, with inflows into Brazilian funds offset by outflows from Mexican and regional Latin American funds. EMEA fund flows remain in negative territory, and in total, $110mn flowed out of funds in the region. Russian funds recorded another $70mn of outflows while SA funds recorded marginal inflows of $3mn. Turkish funds flows went back to positive territory, inflows of $11mn. Regional African funds recorded strong inflows of $36mn, amounting to 1.5% of starting assets.

EMEA equity-only fund flows improve; strong inflows into Nigeria and Kenya. The major contributor to the improvement was SA equity-only funds with inflows accelerating to $130mn. Turkey equity-only funds marked the second-largest inflows into the region, $50mn. Russian equity-only fund flows returned to positive territory with inflows of $14mn. Nigerian and Kenyan equity-only fund inflows were strong at $9.7mn and $3.5mn, respectively.

Gold funds: other than President Obama, the biggest winner of the week. Inflows into gold funds jumped to $100mn over the week to 7 November, marking the largest single week inflow since June 2011. Over the same period, the gold price retreated 0.2%, to $1,717.8/oz.

BRICs up, the rest down. Over the past week only two EM indices that we focus on performed well. MSCI SA added 2.5% while MSCI BRIC was up 1.8%. Among the laggards of the week we saw MSCI Czech Republic (-3.1%), MSCI Hungary (-3%) and MSCI Poland (-1.4%).

Source: bne