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FEBRUARY 2021: FUND FLOWS REMAIN STRONG AS SHAREMARKETS CONTINUE TO RISE
The month of February saw the U.S. and Australian sharemarkets continue their recent strong form, while ETF industry inflows themselves remained solid. The Australian ETF industry continued to grow, and reached yet another new record high of $97.3B at the end of the month. Read on for more details, including best performers, asset flow categories and more.
Australian ETP Market Cap: July 2001 – February 2021
Source: ASX, Chi-X, BetaShares.
Market cap
- ASX Exchange Traded Product market cap: $97.3B1 – all-time end of month high
- Market cap change for month: +0.6%, +$0.5B
- Market cap growth for the last 12 months: +52%, + $33.3B
Comment: The industry’s market cap grew by a relatively subdued 0.5% for the month to reach a new record high of $97.3B. Industry growth over the last 12 months has been 52%, representing absolute growth of $33B over this period.
1. Includes total FuM for ETFs trading on both ASX and Chi-X
New money
- Net new money for month (units outstanding by % value): +$1.5B
Products
- 258 Exchange Traded Products trading on the ASX and Chi-X with no new product launches or closures.
Comment: Two new products launched including BetaShares Cloud Computing ETF (ASX: CLDD) and a new global equities Active ETF by Apostle.
Trading value
- ASX ETF trading value up ~45% vs. the previous month.
Comment: With volatility back in February, we saw a significant rise in trading value, which grew 45% month on month.
Performance
- This month from a performance perspective, we saw a distinct cyclical shift towards value-oriented exposures, along with strong gains in commodity linked products. Our Crude Oil ETF was the best performer gaining 17.9% for the month, this was followed by our Global Banks and Global Energy Companies exposures.
Top 5 category inflows (by $) – February 2021
| Category | Inflow Value |
| International Equities | $829,019,934 |
| Fixed Income | $259,047,204 |
| Australian Equities | $169,721,554 |
| Multi-Asset | $114,387,359 |
| Australian Listed Property | $65,939,351 |
Comment: International equities once again led the way for inflows ($830m of net flows). Bonds, with Australian bonds in particular, were the second biggest category, albeit a significantly smaller levels than equities ($260m of flows).
Top 5 category outflows (by $) – February 2021
| Category | Outflow Value |
| Currency | ($8,772,760) |
Source: Bloomberg, BetaShares.
Source: Bloomberg, BetaShares.
Top sub-category inflows (by $) – February 2021
| Sub-Category | Inflow Value |
| International Equities – Developed World | $317,752,722 |
| International Equities – Sector | $238,485,736 |
| Australian Bonds | $185,780,998 |
| International Equities – Asia | $128,620,232 |
| >Multi-Asset | $114,387,359 |
Top sub-category outflows (by $) – February 2021
| Sub-Category | Outflow Value |
| Gold | ($16,321,896) |
| Australian Equities – Geared | ($15,821,952) |
| Oil | ($15,007,916) |
| Currency | ($8,772,760) |
| International Equities – Geared | ($5,274,375) |
Comment: Outflows from commodities products included profit taking by investors in oil exposures.
Spotlight on ethical investing
This month we highlight the tremendous growth in ethical and sustainable ETFs, which is one of the fastest growing segments of the industry. Over the last two years to February 2021, we’ve seen more than 200% growth in this segment and there are now 18 ethical/sustainable products available and approx. $3B in assets. The flows and FuM are however very concentrated to the BetaShares range of ethical funds which represents some 75% of funds under management in this space.
Do you have an ETF for Australian Banks?
Hi Khurshed,
BetaShares Australian Financial Sector ETF (QFN) aims to track the performance of an index (before fees and expenses) comprising the largest ASX-listed companies in the financial sector, including the ‘Big 4’ banks and insurance companies but excluding Real Estate Investment Trusts.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
BetaShares Client Services