ASX celebrates 20 years of ETFs


If you invested in the first-ever exchange traded funds (ETFs) launched on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) almost 20 years ago, your investment would have seen a 400% return.
In August 2021, the ASX admitted two State Street Global Adviser ETFs onto the exchange – the SSgA SPDR S&P ASX 200 ETF and the complimentary ASX 50 ETF.
Data from FE Analytics showed the SSgA SPDR S&P ASX 200 ETF returned 402.08% while the ASX 50 ETF returned 375.38% since 31 August, 2021, to 30 July, 2021.
As of 6 August, the ASX 200 ETF had $4.81 billion in assets under management (AUM), while the ASX 50 ETF had $788.36 million in AUM.
According to data from the ASX, the ASX holds 223 ETFs across seven asset classes worth $113 billion, as of June 2021.
Global equity ETFs had the most AUM with $57.5 billion, followed by Australian equities at $30.5 billion and Australian fixed income at $8.9 billion.
AUM by sector for ETFs
Source: ASX
The number of quoted global ETFs doubled since 2015, while quoted Australian ETFs had only seen a 47% increase.
Despite the number of commodity ETFs having decreased, AUM increased with $3.44 billion into eight products, as of June 2021. In October 2015, there were 22 commodity ETFs with only $0.65 billion in AUM.
Performance of first two ETFs on the ASX to 30 July 2021
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