The Australian ETF industry experienced its highest-ever monthly dollar value growth in assets under management (AUM) during October, according to the latest BetaShares Australian ETF Review.
AUM increased by $7.3 billion to $131.7 billion, a 5.9 per cent increase a month earlier, which the firm said was mostly due to a “dramatic comeback” in local and global share markets.
Around 20 per cent of this increase was attributable to net flows which totalled $1.5 billion for the month.
While industry growth is back to being positive on an annual basis with a rise of $4.8 billion or 3.7 per cent over the past year, AUM sits below the peak of $136.9 billion hit in December 2021.
BetaShares reported that a total of 311 exchange-traded products were trading on the ASX.
“October was a big month for new product development, with eight new products launched, including our Energy Transition Metals ETF (ASX: XMET) and Nasdaq 100 Yield Maximiser Fund (ASX: QMAX), and new passive products from Global X and Van Eck,” said BetaShares chief commercial officer Ilan Israelstam.
“We also saw three new Active ETF issuers join the industry: Abrdn, Hejaz and Firetrail.”
ASX ETF trading value increased to $10.7 billion, 17 per cent higher than a month earlier.
The BetaShares Geared US Equity Fund Currency Hedged (Hedge Fund) ETF was the month’s top performer with a gain of 18.8 per cent, followed by the BetaShares Global Energy Companies ETF - Currency Hedged ETF (14.4 per cent) and the now-delisted Cosmos-Purpose Ethereum Access ETF (13.5 per cent).
The BetaShares Geared Australian Equity Fund (Hedge Fund) ETF (13.2 per cent) and the Global X Ultra Long Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (13.0 per cent) also performed strongly.
“The market rally saw net inflows recorded in all major asset classes, with the composition of the flows being quite balanced,” said Mr Israelstam.
“Australian Equities was the category with the highest flows at $417 million, but we saw strong flows into Cash, Global Equities and Fixed Income as well ($396 million, $369 million and $308 million respectively).”
Meanwhile, overall net flows at a category level were said to be muted and largely confined to selling in short exposures.
Vanguard remains the largest ETF provider by year-to-date inflows ($6.93 billion), ahead of BetaShares ($3.46 billion), VanEck ($1.62 billion) and iShares ($598.55 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.
