Global, fixed-income ETFs dominate listings
Global and fixed-income exchange-traded funds (ETFs) dominated new ETF listings over the year from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, according to Stockspot.
Funds under management in the Australian exchange-traded funds (ETF) sector grew 33 per cent to $36.2 billion over the past year, the digital investment adviser said.
Asian share market ETFs performed strongly with 18.9 per cent returns for the year, while Vanguard’s Australian Shares Index ETF experienced the largest FUM growth of 39 per cent, Stockspot said.
BetaShares’ Australian Dividend Harvester Fund was the worst performer by returns and its FUM fell by 51 per cent.
“It’s important to note that investors have flocked to global ETFs for greater diversification,” said Stockspot founder Chris Brycki.
“The fact that Australian shares only represent around 1.7 per cent of the world’s total share market value highlights the need for global shares in a diversified portfolio.
“The growing suite of fixed-income ETFs is filling another diversification gap in many portfolios.”
Stockspot said it would add five additional sector ETFs to its portfolio options to provide exposure to small or underweight sectors of the Australian share market: infrastructure, consumer staples, gold miners, healthcare and technology.
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