Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., August 14, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) -Global equity fund inflows dropped sharply in the week through August 20 on caution over a selloff in leading technology stocks, with the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's upcoming speech at the annual Jackson Hole symposium this weekend, also adding to risk aversion.

Investors bought global equity funds worth just $2.27 billion during the week compared with a robust $19.29 billion net purchase the prior week, data from LSEG Lipper showed.

U.S. equity funds saw a net $2.4 billion worth of outflows during the week, partly reversing the previous week's approximately $8.76 billion worth of net inflows.

Weekly net inflows in European and Asian equity funds, meanwhile, eased to $4.2 billion and $70 million from $7.1 billion and $2.08 billion, respectively in the week before.

Investors also withdrew net $1.82 billion from equity sectoral funds. The financial and tech sectors, with $1.58 billion and $613 million in outflows, led the weekly net sales.

Global bond funds were, meanwhile, popular for a 17th straight week as investors pumped a net $18.82 billion into these funds.

High yield bond funds received a weekly sum of $3.03 billion, the largest net inflow in eight weeks. Investors also snapped up a significant $2.52 billion worth of short-term bond funds for an eighth successive weekly net purchase.

Investors also channeled a net $13.98 billion into the safety of money market funds, extending their buying streak into a third consecutive week.

The gold and precious metals commodity funds segment, meanwhile, saw a net $293 million weekly outflow as investors ended a 12-week-long buying trend.

Emerging market equity funds saw a renewed interest as these funds drew a net $458 million in inflows, following two weekly outflows in a row. Investors also added bond funds worth a net $2.13 billion, data for a combined 29,712 funds showed.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra)