"Small joyless flows" as investors sell stocks and cash - Bofa

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors sold stocks and bought gold in the week to Wednesday, withdrawing $5.7 billion from equity funds, BofA Global Research said on Friday, a week of "small, joyless flows", as markets position for the approaching end of the Fed's rate hiking cycle.

Both stocks and cash recorded outflows of $5.7 billion, in the week to Wednesday, while bond outflows stood at £0.1 billion and gold funds got a $65 million boost.

BofA analysts expect the U.S central bank to end hiking rates in March 2023, but whether this is a signal to buy or sell depends on if the environment is inflationary or disinflationary.

"Sell last hike" in inflationary world, "buy last hike" in disinflationary world," the analysts said.

(Reporting by Lucy Raitano, editing by Alun John)