Hedge funds upped their acquisitions of global equities to the fastest pace seen in since March 2023 last month as sentiment towards stock markets across the world — including the US and Japan — turned more bullish, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites a note from Goldman Sachs's prime brokerage division as revealing that net purchases of equities were seen across all major regions of the world in February, with net inflows from hedge funds into global stocks the highest in 11 months.

Hedge funds switched to bet purchases of US equities for the first time in seven months, according to Goldman, with AI- and semiconductor-related stocks leading the way. The so-called Magnificent Seven stocks, meanwhile, including Apple and Nvidia, which have accounted for much of last year's US stock-market surge, collectively remain "little changed so far this year", the bank said, adding that fund managers preferred smaller tech companies.

Interest in Asia is also recovering, led by Japan with hedge funds' net buying of the stocks hitting the highest level in eight months as the Nikkei (.N225) soared to all-time-highs, according to Goldman Sachs.

Chinese equities, meanwhile, also attracted net buying for a third straight month, while net allocation to Europe and emerging markets ex-China rose to about five-year highs.