Safety takes a back seat as investors pile into EM, European stocks - BAML

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors pumped $9.7 billion (£7.6 billion) into equity funds in the week to Wednesday, with emerging markets seeing their biggest inflows in nearly 10 months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said, as growing hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal sparked a rally in risk assets.

Gold funds saw outflows of $1.7 billion, the biggest since December 2016, while risky assets such as emerging market equities sucked in $3.3 billion.

Safe-haven bonds took in $4.2 billion, BAML added.

European equity funds had their fourth straight week of inflows with $1.5 billion flowing in for the week to November 13, BAML said citing EPFR data.

"The rotation from U.S. stocks to the rest of the world continues," BAML said, pointing to $400 million leaving U.S. equity funds.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index <.STOXX> is poised for its sixth straight week of gains and is a few points from hitting a record high.

BAML said it believes 2020 market performance will be "data dependent" and expects forward-looking economic indicators such as purchasing managers indexes and earnings to surprise to the upside in the next two to three months.

(Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan; Editing by Tom Arnold and Hugh Lawson)