Lonsec upgrades three ETF Securities funds


Lonsec has upgraded its ratings for three of the ETF Securities funds, which included: the ETFS S&P/ASX 300 High Yield Plus ETF (ZYAU), ETFS Morningstar Global Technology ETF (TECH) and ETFS ROBO Global Robotics and Automation ETF (ROBO).
ZYAU saw its rating change to ‘highly recommended’, while both TECH and ROBO were rewarded by Lonsec with a new ‘recommended’ rating.
The upgrade of ZYAU, which recently passed the $100 million mark in funds under management, would mean this financial product would be considered as a preferred entry point to its asset class or strategy, the firm said.
Lonsec acknowledged its means of gaining exposure to high yielding, large, mid and small-cap equities listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and said the rating indicated the fund’s ability to generate risk adjusted returns in line with relevant objectives.
TECH was singled out by the research house due to its investment strategy and strong performance as well as the low-cost exposure to global IT companies it offered, ETF Securities’ chief executive, Kris Walesby, said.
Following this, the upgrade of ROBO was driven by Lonsec’s positive view of the effectiveness of the index’s methodology and operation.
“The underlying index is provided by ROBO Global, an organisation dedicated to the research of the robotics and automation industry,” the research house said in its report.
“Lonsec considers ETF Securities to have in-depth scale and resources to effectively manage and structure ETFs plus a proven track record of successfully running index strategies.”
Recommended for you
Lonsec and SQM Research have highlighted manager selection as a crucial risk for financial advisers when it comes to private market investments, particularly due to the clear performance dispersion.
Macquarie Asset Management has indicated its desire to commit the fast-growing wealth business in Australia by divesting part of its public investment business to Japanese investment bank Nomura.
Australia’s “sophisticated” financial services industry is a magnet for offshore fund managers, according to a global firm.
The latest Morningstar asset manager survey believes ETF providers are likely to retain the market share they have gained from active managers.