May 2023 Review: Industry reaches new heights as inflows spring back to life
The strongest inflows recorded in the year to date drove the Australian ETF industry to fresh record highs in May, even though actual asset class performance was very mixed. Read on for details, including best performers, asset flow categories and more.
Exchanged Traded Funds Market cap
- Australian Exchange Traded Funds Market Cap (ASX + CBOE): $147.4B – new all time high
- ASX CHESS Market Cap: $132.6B1
- Market cap increase for month: 1.0%, $1.4B
- Market cap growth for last 12 months: 12.3%, $16.1B
New money
- Net inflows for month: +$1.1B – the highest level recorded so far this calendar year
Comment: For the first time in the calendar year, investor inflows exceeded $1B, representing 80% of the month’s growth.
Products
- 339 Exchange Traded Products trading on the ASX & CBOE
- 10 new products launched this month, including two global shares products from Betashares (BGBL and HGBL). Both of which enter the industry with the lowest management fees in the industry for global shares ETFs (0.08% and 0.11% p.a. respectively).
Trading value
- ASX ETF trading value increased 41% for the month, for a total of $9.2B, the highest level for 6 months.
Comment: ASX ETF trading value rebounded strongly after a quiet April.
Performance
It was very much a month where growth exposures roared back to life, with the best performing products being tech-themed.
Comment: We also saw a new entrant into the ‘big leagues’ with our Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ) entering the Top 10 largest ETFs in the country for the first time as growth exposures performed strongly.
Top 5 category inflows (by $) – May 2023
| Broad Category | Inflow Value |
| Fixed Income | $480,860,608 |
| Australian Equities | $432,842,159 |
| Cash | $121,389,112 |
| Listed Property | $15,285,421 |
| Commodities | $13,979,404 |
Comment: In what has been very much a recurring theme this year, we once again saw Australian fixed income exposures lead the way in terms of flows. Broad Australian equities products also continued to receive flows, as has been the case for the year more broadly.
Top category outflows (by $) – May 2023
| Sub-Category | Inflow Value |
| International Equities | ($7,349,317) |
Comment: We once again saw (small) outflows in global equities exposures (-$7m). Global equities products have typically been the most popular category in Australian ETFs but have now received net outflows for 3 months in a row as investors preference Australian over global share exposures, presumably due to continued concern over likely recessions in a number of key markets including the US.
Top sub-category inflows (by $) – May 2023
| Sub-category | Inflow Value |
| Australian Bonds | $406,327,680 |
| Australian Equities – Broad | $317,578,174 |
| Cash | $121,389,112 |
| Global Bonds | $73,470,507 |
| Australian Equities – High Yield | $54,788,024 |
Top sub-category outflows (by $) – May 2023
| Sub-Category | Inflow Value |
| International Equities – Developed World | ($51,164,514) |
| Australian Equities – E&R – Ethical | ($23,179,576) |
| International Equities – Europe | ($18,031,884) |
| Australian Equities – Short | ($14,348,335) |
| International Equities – Asia | ($11,898,094) |
*Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.
1.Since February 2023, the ASX started reporting additional data on a CHESS-only basis. The primary use of such data is that it will exclude, amongst other things, the FuM and Flows in ‘dual class’ Active ETFs and potentially provide a more accurate picture of exchange traded activity.
Investor & founder with a Financial Services & Fintech focus. Co-founder of Betashares. Passionate about entrepreneurship and startups.
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