Capital flooded into Indian equity funds as the nation’s stock market rose against the weakening rupee in August. According to AsiaHedge data, capital flows into Indian equity strategies hit a total 8.7%. Net inflows contributed the entirety of this figure.

The weaker rupee boosted share prices of Indian companies earning a substantial portion of their revenues in the US, such as technology and pharmaceutical businesses, as well as those that focus on exports.

The top performing fund, Vasant India Equity Strategy, generated a 19.8% gain for the month taking its year-to-date numbers to 27.7%. Overall, Indian equity-focused managers led the way in August with a 0.8% gain, although they underperformed the 2.8% recorded by the Sensex benchmark.

- The size of Asia’s global equity strategies also grew by 9% in August due to net inflows. Performance of these strategies only added 0.4% but asset allocations of 8.6% took the total inflows to 9%.

The steady trend of rising share prices and lack of financial stress or noteworthy recession signals has meant many markets seem comfortable hovering near recent highs.

Australia-based managers running global strategies lead the way in Asia with the Platinum, Munro and Antipodes funds all posting positive figures during August.

The biggest losers of the month were Asia inc-Japan hedge fund managers. Both a performance drop and outflows saw them lose 7.7% in August. More than four Asia inc-Japan funds on the AsiaHedge database saw performance drop more than 7% in August alone.

Japan strategies also lost out in August, with asset flows slipping down -1.1%. Performance for the strategy fell 0.7% and outflows contributed a further 0.4% drop.

The outflow in Japan strategies is in part due to overseas investors having sold a net ¥3.9trn in Japanese equities so far this year, data from Japan Exchange Group revealed.

Foreign investors are leaving as the world’s second-largest stock market is staggering through 2018, buffeted by everything from concerns about trade wars to the impact of next year’s sales-tax increase.

India inflows on the up on AsiaHedge.