ETF industry resilient at previous month's high



The Australian exchanged traded fund (ETF) industry has remained relatively flat over the last month (October) at $24.1 billion in funds under management (FUM), following September's record high, according to BetaShares.
The fund manager said while the industry's flat ETF growth was attributed to falls in global and Australian share markets, ETF flows still increased by $629 million in October.
BetaShares managing director, Alex Vynokur, said: "It's a testament to the strength of the Australian ETF industry to see continued, significant levels of net inflows, even in a period of local and global market declines".
In terms of where the funds went in the ETF sector, broad Australian equity exposures received the highest inflows (net $274 million), in line with the trend observed in September, the firm said.
International equities and Australian fixed income also captured new monies and recorded inflows of $103 million and $98 million respectively, while outflows were limited to only minor redemptions in short exposures.
Product development surged in October, with 15 new funds being added to the market, which included three from BetaShares, three from Vanguard and two from iShares.
BetaShares also had four of the best performers in October, which included their global banks ETF (with a 6.5 per cent return for October), the BetaShares Wisdom Tree Japan ETF (with 5.3 per cent) and their Australian equities strong bear hedged fund (with a 5.2 per cent).
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