Only three Australian equity exchange traded funds (ETFs) have outperformed in the sector coming out of the March sell-off.
According to FE Analytics, within the Australian Core Strategies universe, the Australian equities sector had returned 20.74% since 31 March, 2020, to 31 October, 2020.
In the 200-plus strong sector, only 18 were ETFs and the three that beat the sector average were VanEck Australian Equal Weight (25.47%), BetaShares Australian Ex-20 Portfolio Diversifier (25.26%) and BlackRock iShares Edge MSCI Australia Multifactor (23.34%).
Rather than tracking the ASX 200 or 300, the VanEck Australian Equal Weight ETF tracked the MVIS Australia Equal Weight Index which was a “pure-play index that includes the largest and most liquid ASX-listed companies, combining benchmark with blue-chip characteristics, purpose-built to capture the true performance of the Australian equities market, with real diversification across both securities and sectors”.
The BetaShares Ex-20 ETF tracked the ASX 200, minus the top 20 stocks, giving exposure to mid-cap stocks on the exchange.
The Blackrock iShares ETF tracked the MSCI Australia IMI Diversified Multiple Factor (AUD) Index, which targeted four style areas – quality, value, size (smaller companies) and momentum.
The next two best-performing ETFs were Van Eck Vectors MSCI Australian Sustainable Equity (20.71%) and ETF Securities SelfWealth SMSF Leaders (19.71%).
There were 38 managed funds that outperformed the best-performing ETF, but only the negatively correlated BetaShares Australian Equities Bear Hedge ETF had returned a loss in that time frame.
The next worst performing ETF was the BetaShares Managed Risk Australian Share which returned 5.76%.
There were five managed funds that performed below that: CFS Milliman Managed Risk Australian Share (5.37%), Lazard Select Australian Equity (3.98%), APSEC Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity (3.58%), Mutual 50 Leaders Australian Shares (0.2%) and Pentalpha Income For Life (-3.64%).
Best-performing Australian equity ETFs over the last seven months to 31 October 2020
