Last week, hedge funds recorded their highest net purchases of Asian equities in both emerging and developed markets since Goldman Sachs' Prime Services trading desk began tracking this data in 2016. The region benefited from optimistic market expectations regarding artificial intelligence infrastructure companies.

According to the trading division's report, hedge funds turned into net buyers of global equities for the first time in three weeks, with capital flowing into all major markets—though Asia stood out particularly. Emerging markets continued to outperform as investors rotated out of momentum trends and responded to a weaker U.S. dollar.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has risen 11% year-to-date, while South Korea's Kospi index surged more than 30%, largely driven by major manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. In contrast, the S&P 500 index closed slightly down 0.1% as of last Friday.

Goldman Sachs' trading division noted in a client report that last week's market activity in Asia was primarily driven by long buying, with the ratio of long purchases to short covering reaching 8.4 to 1.

Globally, the trading desk reported that buying in the information technology, industrial, consumer staples, and materials sectors exceeded selling in all other areas. The most significant selling pressure was observed in the consumer discretionary, communication services, and financial sectors.