The Australian exchange traded fund industry bucked the trend of broader market declines during October and finished the month valued at a stable $24.1B, which was approximately the same value as September. The industry stood its ground amongst local and international sharemarket declines to record higher levels of inflows compared to September, with +$629m of new money received.
The market conditions suited short funds with the two BetaShares Strong Bear Hedge Funds (ASX: BBOZ/ BBUS) amongst the best performing exposures for the month, indicating how product innovation in exchange traded products has allowed investors to take a view on the market and profit from, or protect against, falling sharemarkets.
Market Size & Growth
- ASX Exchange Traded Funds Market Cap: +$24.1B
- Market cap growth for month: -0.2%, -$49.3m
- Market cap growth for last twelve months: +16.4%, +$3.4B
New Money
- New unit growth for month (units outstanding by number): +2.9%
- Net new money (units outstanding by $ value): +$629m
Products
- 199 Exchange Traded Products trading on the ASX
- 15 new products launched this month
Comment: BetaShares launched the Australian Ex-20 Portfolio Diversifier ETF – ASX: EX20 during the month while iShares added 4 factor products and 10 new single bond XTBs entered the market.
Trading Value
- Average trading value declined -21% vs. last month
Performance
- Best performers this month were BetaShares Funds: Global Banks (ASX: BNKS), Hedged Japanese Equities (ASX: HJPN) and Strong Bear Australian and US Hedge Funds (ASX: BBOZ and BBUS).
Top 5 category inflows (by $) – October 2016
Category | Inflow Value | |
Australian Equities | $335,204,301 | |
International Equities | $102,798,058 | |
Fixed Income | $97,574,137 | |
Cash | $42,756,454 | |
Australian Listed Property | $15,281,824 |
Top category outflows (by $) – October 2016
Category | Outflow Value | |
Short | ($3,261,930) | |