The strong growth of the Australian ETF industry has continued with net flows of $2.4 billion during the month of October, according to a new report from BetaShares.
During a flat month for the local share market, the market cap of Australian ETFs reached a record high of $126.9 billion, an increase of 72.1 per cent or $53.2 billion over the past year.
BetaShares reported inflows of $904.4 million for international equities and $621.1 million for local equities during the month.
“Just like last month, we saw continued high levels of flows into both Australian and international equities, although once again international equities dominated,” the firm said.
High inflows were also recorded for cash ETFs ($345.2 million) and fixed income ETFs ($304.7 million).
The BetaShares Australian High Interest Cash ETF (AAA) had both the top inflows and the highest average daily trading value in October.
The ETFS Hydrogen ETF (HGEN) topped the performance table with a gain of 23.8 per cent, followed by an 18.4 per cent rise for the ETFS Ultra Long Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (LNAS).
Overall trading value decreased by 12 per cent for the month after a “very significant spike” in September but remained above average.
Vanguard is the top ETF provider by inflows so far this year with $7.2 billion or 36.1 per cent of the industry overall, ahead of $5.5 billion for BetaShares and $2.3 billion for iShares.
Four new funds were launched during October, including an active global equities ETF from Loomis Sayles and a fintech and blockchain ETF from ETF Securities.
Crypto has been a major focus in the ETF space recently, including the launch of Australia’s first crypto ETF earlier this month and the first futures-based bitcoin ETF in the US last month.
Demand remains high globally for actively managed ETFs and ETPs, which have recorded 18 consecutive months of net inflows according to ETFGI.
