Emerging-Market Funds Draw Most Money in 6 Weeks, Led by BRICs

Go figure. Emerging-market stock funds attracted the most buying in six weeks in the past week as investors poured more money into those that invest in Brazil, Russia, India and China. U.S. and European equity funds suffered outflows.

Funds investing in shares of developing countries drew a combined $875 million on a net basis for the week ended Aug. 23, Brad Durham, a managing director at Boston-based Emerging Portfolio Fund Research, wrote in an e-mail today.

The net inflows were the most since the weekly period ended July 12, when the funds attracted $1.05 billion. It was also the fourth straight week that investors added more money than they pulled from emerging-market equity funds.

Funds that invest in the so-called BRIC markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China have been the overwhelming favorites.

Combined, BRIC funds and those investing in each of the four markets on an individual basis accounted for 26 percent of all net inflows to emerging markets in the past week, figures from a release from Emerging Portfolio dated Aug. 25 showed.

This year, BRIC-related funds have garnered $12.4 billion on a net basis, or almost 70 percent of all the money that emerging- market stock funds have taken in, according to Emerging Portfolio, which tracks 15,000 funds with $7 trillion in assets.

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