News Briefs (2022-10-22)

Hedge funds suffer

further outflows

in third quarter

Investors pulled an estimated $26 billion from hedge funds during the third quarter, according to data provider HFR, jarred by a global stock market plunge, soaring bond yields and geopolitical tensions. That comes on top of a $27.5 billion outflow in the second quarter, the first time that hedge funds have seen consistant outflows from one quarter to the next since the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, HFR numbers showed. According to the data provider, the outflows were driven by a $12.4 billion decline in assets from hedge funds that take bets on the equity markets. However, money flowed out of every kind of hedge fund strategy, even if it was performing well. The biggest hedge funds saw the largest declines in peformance and how much money other investors have given them to manage, often combine as a figure called assets under management, HFR said. — Reuters

Indian shares

end higher

for sixth day

Indian shares ended higher for a sixth straight session on Friday, as strong corporate earnings, including lender Axis Bank, countered weakness in global equities over rate hike fears. The benchmark indexes also posted their biggest weekly gains since late July. The NSE Nifty 50 index settled 0.07% higher at 17,576.30, while the S&P BSE Sensex finished 0.18% up at 59,307.15, after climbing over 0.6% each to hit a one-month high. "We are largely in line with the global markets, so ours is not a sustained outperformance so far," said Ajit Mishra, vice president - research at Religare Broking. "Another important aspect is that even foreign investors buying (in domestic equities) is not consistent, it could be for a day and we still need to see a decisiveness in this trend." Foreign institutional investors bought a net 18.65 billion Indian rupees ($225.2 million) worth of equities on Thursday. — Reuters

Instacart may

postpone IPO

Grocery delivery app Instacart is likely to postpone its plans to go public in 2022 amid market uncertainty that has left investors worried about growing volatility in capital markets, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters. The tech IPO market globally is in the middle of its worst drought in nearly two decades. U.S. listings have raised a little over $7 billion so far this year, according to data from Dealogic. Traditional IPOs, excluding special purpose acquisition companies, had raised a record $154 billion last year. Instacart has not completely ruled out the option to go public, a source said, but added that the plans to list the company in 2022 look extremely unlikely. Instacart declined to comment on its IPO plans.