NEW YORK (Reuters) – Emerging market stocks and bonds saw foreign net inflows of about $31.2 billion in February, though rising U.S. rates triggered a slowdown during the last week, data from the Institute of International Finance showed on Tuesday.
The $31.2 billion was the lowest monthly figure since August and compares with $52.5 billion net inflows in January.
Non-resident portfolio inflows to emerging market equities hit $8.4 billion last month and debt instruments attracted $22.8 billion, according to the IIF.
Of the flow to equities, $7.8 billion – or 93% of the total – went to Chinese stocks. The $0.6 billion net inflows to the other emerging markets was the lowest reading since outflows of over $6 billion in October for the region, according to IIF data.
“The positive momentum at the beginning of 2021 has scaled down, hurting equity flows particularly,” the IIF said in a statement.
On the debt side, flows to China totaled $9.3 billion, the lowest in 10 months, while the rest of EM funneled $13.5 billion, just above the $12.1 billion average over the previous 12 months.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
