The Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry now boasts $220 billion assets under management (AUM), new data from Betashares has revealed.
According to the firm’s latest Australian ETF review, the industry rose by 2 per cent last month, with its total market cap increasing by $4.6 billion.
August also saw the second highest monthly net flows on record, at $3.2 billion. Net flows represented some 70 per cent of all growth, with the remainder stemming from market appreciation and conversion activity.
“Notwithstanding market volatility, August saw the ETF industry continue its strong momentum,” Betashares said, adding that industry flows remained elevated as investors took advantage of the market volatility to add to their portfolios.
“The second highest monthly net flows on record pushed the Australian ETF Industry to a new all-time high in assets under management.”
Looking at category inflows, August, similarly to July, was another standout for international equities ($1.4 billion), followed by Australian equities in second place with inflows of $751 million. Meanwhile, fixed income products received $678 million in investor dollars.
Notably, no categories saw net outflows over the month. Instead, losses were limited to a number of subcategories.
In terms of product launches, there were six new funds launched in August, including from JP Morgan Asset Management and Dimensional.
Betashares highlighted that all new products were actively managed ETFs, most being conversions of existing unlisted funds into dual class structures.
Moreover, the best-performing products this month included a geared exposure to the Australian dollar and an Australian technology ETF.
Namely, the Betashares Strong Australian Dollar Fund (Hedge Fund) emerged as the best performer, returning 7.5 per cent over August, closely followed by the Betashares S&P/ASX Australian Technology ETF with a return of 5.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, the iShares Core FTSE Global Property Ex Australia (AUD Hedged) ETF and VanEck FTSE International Property (Hedged) ETF both saw a return of 5.6 per cent.
At the end of August, there were 398 ETFs trading on ASX and Cboe.
