RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Reuters) Brazilian investors are pouring a record amount of cash into local equity funds, while foreign investors notched up their sixth straight week of buying, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) said on Friday, January 24th.
Domestic investor inflows into Brazilian equity funds last week totaled US$5.4 (R$22) billion, the highest since the series started in 2014 and the 10th weekly inflow in a row, BAML said.
The average inflow over that 10-week period is US$3.5 billion, around double the weekly average of US$1.8 billion over the course of last year, BAML added.
Brazil’s Bovespa benchmark stocks surged 32 percent last year, more than double the MSCI emerging market index’s 15 percent gains. On Friday it climbed to a fresh record high of 119,593 points.
This has been notable for the absence of foreign investors. Central Bank President Roberto Campos Neto on Friday said this was not a sign they had a gloomy view of Brazil, but suggested they might see greater value in other markets right now.
BAML’s figures indicate they are dipping their toes back in again, with Brazilian funds attracting US$274 million inflows from abroad last week, the sixth straight week of higher inflows.