Strong fund flows, however, often herald significant bear markets.
This year, though, stock fund flows continue to accelerate.
The same fund flows that can drive a price up can push it back down again.
Singapore, a regional financial hub, launched a probe into fund flows linked to 1MDB in 2015.
"We are forecasting the worst first quarter in quite some time" for fund flows, he said.
Mutual fund flows are easy to track but other portfolio flows are not.All this gives EM policymakers a dilemma.
Mutual fund flows are widely tracked, he said, "but they aren't as critical as most people generally think".
ROBERT ADLER, president of AMG Data Services, which tracks fund flows, confirmed that investors were seeking a broader focus.
Then there is the question of fund flows — whether investors are literally walking away from their investments.
They force fund managers to buy and sell stocks to keep up with the fund flows, thus raising fund expenses.
Jonathan Garner of Morgan Stanley says that recent fund flows into emerging markets represent a re-allocation of just three-hundredths of one percentage point of global wealth.
