ETF industry breaks previous ceiling
The Australian exchange traded fund (ETF) industry has again pushed through its previous ceiling and hit $24.1 billion in funds under management (FUM), according to BetaShares.
The fund manager's monthly ETF review of September 2016 found that FUM grew by $530 million (or two per cent) after it received $580 million in inflows for the month.
The local share market was flat and global markets fell in September. As such all of the growth in the ETF sector came from new monies, rather than value growth, the firm said.
When the ETF sector was broken down, Australian equities recorded the highest inflows with $250 million in flows, followed by Australian fixed income, which saw $124 million in new inflows.
When the fund manager assessed performance, resource and commodity ETFs returned the most to invetors. BetaShares found that their crude oil index ETF (synthetic) and their resources sector ETF recorded the best returns with 6.5 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively.
Only one new ETF was launched in September: the BetaShares global cyber security ETF.
The report also found that ETF outflows were limited, as only minor outflows were recorded in unhedged European and Japanese equity products.
BetaShares managing director, Alex Vynokur said: "[In September] Australian investors continued to add local exposures to their portfolios. Australian fixed income has really broken out from a growth perspective in 2016".
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