BetaShares data underscores ETF growth
Exchange traded fund (ETF) specialist company BetaShares has described 2011 as having been a watershed year for the Australian ETF industry, with ASX listed ETFs attracting over $500 million in net inflows.
The BetaShares ETF Review for December, released this week, claimed the increase in netflows was striking because it came at a time when the general equity markets dropped significantly.
BetaShares head of investment strategy Drew Corbett described the inflows for the industry in 2011 as pleasing, given the general market sentiment, and suggested greater acceptance of ETFs.
"As product choice widens, investors are now increasingly considering ETFs when making
strategic asset allocation decisions," he said. "We have seen this over the course of 2011 as the largest Australian equity ETF saw large redemptions while new money flowed into international ETFs, the US Dollar ETF and commodities such as silver and currency hedged gold," he said.
The BetaShares analysis said that assisting ETF inflows had been the 14 new products listed over the course of 2011, bringing the total number of ETFs available to 59, with investors now able to access currency, commodities and small caps in ETF form for the first time.
It claimed the strong performance of the Australian ETF industry had mirrored a strong year of ETF growth globally, and a continued migration of investor capital from managed funds into ETFs.
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