The Australian exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry’s AUM now stands at $215.6 billion – a new all-time record high, new data from Betashares has revealed.
According to Betashares’ latest Australian ETF review, the industry rose by 5 per cent during July, with total market cap increasing by $10.3 billion. Total industry assets now stand at $215.6 billion.
Record growth also continued for industry flows, which read at $3.5 billion for the month. It marked the first time that monthly flows had exceeded $3 billion and represented some 33 per cent of growth in July, with the remainder coming from market appreciation and conversion activity.
Betashares said these latest figures show the continuing trend of investors using the new financial year as an opportunity to add to their portfolios.
“July saw the ETF industry continue the strong momentum from the first half of 2024, as record net flows and strong market performance lifted the industry to a new all-time high,” the ETF provider said.
“While these numbers reflect the ETF industry prior to the August market dip, early indications suggest that ETF investors are taking advantage of the current high levels of volatility with nearly $1 billion in net flows already recorded for August.”
Over the last 12 months, the Australian ETF industry has grown by 43.7 per cent, or $65.6 billion.
Looking at category inflows, international equities products were a standout, accounting for $1.6 billion of all flows.
International equities almost doubled the amount of net flows received by second-placer Australian Equities products ($891 million), while fixed income was in third spot with $746 million.
Outflows, meanwhile, were limited to modest amounts in cash ($32 million) and listed property funds ($14 million).
In terms of product launches, there were six new funds launched in July, including a new currency hedged Equal Weight S&P 500 exposure and a new Australian equities momentum ETF.
Magellan also converted their closed ended Magellan Global Fund into units in the Magellan Global Fund (Open Class) (Managed Fund), further adding to the industry FUM figure.
Moreover, the best-performing ETFs this month were exposures over US small caps, cryptocurrencies, and gold miners.
Namely, the iShares S&P Small-Cap ETF emerged as the best performer, returning 13.5 per cent over July, closely followed by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF with a return of 13.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF gained 11.6 per cent and the Betashares Global Gold Miners ETF - Currency Hedged saw a return of 11.4 per cent.
At the end of July, there were 388 exchange-traded products trading on the ASX and Cboe.
