Risk aversion in the wake of Dubai's massive debt woes caused investors to slow their move into emerging market equity and riskier bond fund groups in the week ended December 1, EPFR Global said on Thursday.
The Boston-based fund tracker said that investors did not completely run for safety after government-owned Dubai World requested a payment standstill on a maturing Islamic bond as it works out how to restructure $26 billion worth of debt.
Money market funds, the traditional safe-haven for cash, had a net outflow of $838 million, bringing its current outflow streak to eight weeks.
However, Middle East regional equity funds had net outflows for the sixth time in the past seven weeks with outflows hitting a 35-week high. Investors also pulled cash from Middle East and Africa regional equity funds, EPFR's statement said.
After the initial shock of the Dubai debt moratorium request, EPFR said investors looked to put cash into commodity and currency.
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