Investing.com-- Emerging markets in Asia saw strong inflows in the second half of August, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said in a note, with bargain buying and improving sentiment over lower interest rates drawing investors back in.
EM Asia saw inflows of about $6 billion after about $18 billion of selling between late-July to early August, GS said.
Over the past week, GS said that EM Asia stocks saw modest inflows at $0.9 billion, with the ASEAN region, Taiwan and India contributing to a bulk of the inflows.
In China, Southbound stocks in Hong Kong saw small outflows at $0.2 billion, while the Chinese government stopped releasing flows data for northbound markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Among Asian markets, Chinese stocks were the worst performers so far this year, with the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes trading at six-month lows amid few signs of improving growth in the country.
Broader Asian markets were also battered by a wave of heavy selling in early-August as hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan rattled regional sentiment, as did growing concerns over a U.S. recession.
But regional markets recouped a bulk of these losses as sentiment improved, while increasing confidence in U.S. interest rate cuts also spurred buying.
Japan rode a bulk of this recovery, and saw flows turn positive in August. Japanese markets were also sitting on $0.9 billion of inflows so far in August, much more than most of Asia.
Hong Kong shares saw the highest amount of inflows for August, at $4.7 billion, GS data showed.