Equities: South Korea and Japan attract record flows – TD Securities

TD Securities strategists Paul Soumalias and Alex Loo report that global equity funds kept strong aggregate inflows near recent levels, but with a sharp shift in regional allocation. South Korean equities drew record weekly inflows, while Japan saw its largest since 2013. In contrast, China suffered heavy outflows and cyclical thematic equities lost momentum.

Record inflows into Korea and Japan

"Global bond funds saw their lowest weekly inflows since Liberation Day. While US funds managed to maintain their weekly average, European funds saw outflows for the first time in a year. EM also saw outflows, with Global EM and Asian bond funds recording negative numbers on the week."

"Interestingly, like the US, other Dollar Bloc funds managed to maintain positive inflows. Most notably, Canada, continues to see steady inflows."

"Global equity flows, on aggregate, maintained similar flows to last week ($13bn vs. $11.5bn), albeit with a much different distribution."

"The two clearest winners on the week were South Korea ($8.9bn) and Japan ($6.2bn). South Korea set an all-time weekly inflow record and Japan saw its largest weekly inflows since May 2013."

"China, on the other hand, experienced significant outflows (-$7.8bn). Lastly, Cyclical's 2026 hot streak finally broke - as the thematic equity group saw -$2bn of outflows."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)