Hedge funds record decade-high weekly buying in Korea, Japan, Taiwan equities, Morgan Stanley says

Morgan Stanley says global hedge funds stepped up bets on Asia, with weekly notional buying of South Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese equities hitting a decade high in the week ended May 7. The flows — concentrated in semiconductors and hardware — pushed major benchmarks in those markets to fresh highs and lifted hedge funds’ net exposure to Japan, Korea and Taiwan to the highest level since the bank began tracking in 2010. That regional exposure now represents roughly 19% of global hedge fund positioning. Goldman Sachs separately flagged April as the largest monthly hedge fund buying into Asian equities in a decade. The surge highlights a rotation of international capital into Asian tech supply-chain beneficiaries and could support further upside in regional equity indices and semiconductor-related names.