The assets under management of the Australian ETF industry dipped 0.2 per cent or $0.3 billion in August to $130.0 billion following large outflows from a single Australian shares ETF.
According to the latest BetaShares Australian ETF Review, the iShares Core S&P/ASX 200 ETF (IOZ) recorded net outflows of $1.0 billion during the month.
“It appears as though the vast majority of these outflows came from a single institutional client, in what we believe to be the single largest trade in Australian ETF history,” commented BetaShares chief commercial officer, Ilan Israelstam.
“Notably, and as testimony to the liquidity of ETFs more generally, this trade occurred seamlessly and without causing any material market impact.”
While these outflows had a significant impact on the figures for the industry overall, net flows remained positive at $0.6 billion but were down from $2.2 billion in July. Over the past year, the Australian ETF industry has grown by 4 per cent or a total of $4.9 billion.
ASX ETF trading value increased by 22 per cent in August to $1.03 billion, which BetaShares said made it the sixth largest month in history.
The MFG Core ESG Fund (MCSE) from Magellan was the month's top performer, rising 16.7 per cent, followed by the BetaShares Global Uranium ETF (URNM), which rose 13.8 per cent, and the ETFS Ultra Short Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (SNAS), which was up by 11.7 per cent.
A total of five new products were launched in August, including the BetaShares Metaverse ETF (MTAV) and four new funds from iShares, bringing the total number of exchange-traded products available on the ASX to 305.
International equities was the top category by inflows ($427.0 million), ahead of fixed income ($320.2 million), short ($141.3 million), multi-asset ($95.6 million) and listed property ($39.5 million).
Australian equities topped the list of category outflows ($421.1 million). However, BetaShares noted that this was unsurprising given the very large institutional trade highlighted previously.
Meanwhile, the top ETFs by inflows were the BetaShares Australia 200 ETF (A200) with $147.2 million, and the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (VAS) with $115.4 million.
After the iShares Core S&P/ASX 200 ETF, the Magellan Global Fund (Open Class) (MGOC) suffered the next biggest outflows of $322.3 million.
Jon Bragg
Jon Bragg is a journalist for Momentum Media's Investor Daily, nestegg and ifa. He enjoys writing about a wide variety of financial topics and issues and exploring the many implications they have on all aspects of life.
