ETF growth continues
The local exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry continued to exhibit growth in February, albeit at a relatively modest pace, according to the latest analysis from ETF specialist BetaShares.
Outlining the results of its latest Australian ETF Review, BetaShares said approximately $9 million of new money had flowed into ETFs, with the overall market cap increasing $91 million to $5.2 billion.
It said that while Australian equities ETFs were the most popular for the month, trading values across ETFs decreased by more than 20 per cent, suggesting investors still lacked investment conviction.
It said the best-performing ETFs were silver and oil, returning 8.6 per cent and 8.5 per cent in February.
The BetaShares analysis said that looking ahead to March, the introduction of fixed income products among other products being brought to the market was likely to lead to approximately 75 ETFs being listed on the Australian Securities Exchange by mid-2012, compared with 60 at the end of February.
It said March would be remembered as a milestone month for the local ETF industry with the launch of the first cash and fixed-interest ETFs.
Commenting on events, BetaShares head of investment strategy Drew Corbett
said that with investors increasingly focused on yield, BetaShares was predicting strong inflows.
“As a result of Australian ETF providers looking to add fixed interest and income-based offerings, we expect awareness of ETFs to increase, which is another positive step forward for the industry,” he said.
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