By Nell Mackenzie
LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge funds bought commodity sensitive stocks in the week to July 5 at the fastest pace in five months, said a Goldman Sachs note to clients seen by Reuters on Monday.
Energy stocks fell last week as Tropical Storm Beryl battered the Caribbean. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Shell (LON:SHEL) all declined between about 0.5% and just over 1.5% over the course of last week.
Still, energy and materials stocks were among the most net bought sectors on the bank's prime brokerage desk last week, which tracks the trades of hedge funds.
Oil and gas companies drew hedge fund interest as well as containers and packaging companies, and metals and mining firms, said the bank.
Hedge funds were not so keen on the stocks of paper, forest products and chemicals, which were modestly more sold than bought, the note added.
Collectively, commodity sensitive sectors were net bought for the third straight week, driven almost entirely by hedge funds piling into trades that bet on rising asset prices, said the bank.
Generally, hedge funds crept back into global stocks last week, which were more bought than sold for the first time in three weeks, according to the note.
All regions except for North America were net bought, led by Europe and Asia, it said, adding that Chinese equities were net sold for the fourth straight week.
Industrials, financials, and energy were the most net bought global sectors, while communication services, tech, and utilities were the most sold, said the bank.