Demand for U.S. stock funds falls amid Cyprus worries -EPFR

NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - Fund investors worldwide gave over $2 billion in new cash to U.S. equity funds in the latest week, a sharp decrease from the previous week as investors grew nervous over Cyprus's debt burden, data from EPFR Global showed on Friday.

The inflows into U.S. stock funds in the week ended March 20 marked a decline from inflows of $10.87 billion the previous week. Equity funds overall took in $2.5 billion in the latest week, down from $14.1 billion, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based fund tracker said.

Demand for bonds overtook that for stocks, as investors placed $3.68 billion into bond funds worldwide. Over 80 percent of that inflow went into funds that hold U.S. bonds, EPFR Global said.

Funds that hold European bonds suffered outflows of just $40 million, despite worries that Cyprus could default on its debt over the reporting period.