Global equity funds found a reprieve in the week ended March 23, as investors turned net buyers after selling them in the previous three weeks.

Global equity funds obtained $19.66 billion in the week, the most since the week ended Feb. 9, Refinitiv Lipper data showed.

The MSCI world stock index surged 5.7% last week, after being bogged down since the start of the year on concerns over inflation and geopolitical tensions.

"Investors are broadly rotating into equities from bonds as the U.S. 10-year yield climbed higher," said Joseph Seeger, senior technology analyst at Nasdaq IR Intelligence, adding that more inflows are expected into equities due to monthly and quarterly rebalancing.

U.S. equity funds led purchases with inflows worth $13.88 billion, while European and Asian funds received $4.14 billion and $1.19 billion respectively.

Among sector funds, tech funds secured $2.13 billion, the biggest weekly inflow since July 2021, while healthcare and financials pulled in $1.71 billion and $0.58 billion in net buying.

Meanwhile, bond funds witnessed outflows for a 11th straight week worth $1.7 billion, although the lowest in that period.

High-yield bond funds, and short- and medium-term bond funds lost over $2 billion each in their 11th weekly outflows.

"In the bond markets, there was a resurgence of interest in floating rate notes, while rotation from overall credit to sovereign bonds & TIPS continued," Jefferies said in a report on Friday.

Meanwhile, government bond funds drew $1.92 billion in their biggest weekly inflow in three weeks, and inflation-protected funds pulled in $1.07 billion in net buying.

Investors were also net sellers of global money market funds for a second consecutive week, as they exited funds worth $19.38 billion.

Among commodity funds, precious metals funds received $1.43 billion in a 10th straight week of net buying. However, energy funds posted outflows of $306 million after two weeks of inflows.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrea Ricci)