This article has been written by expert contributor, Tony Kaye, Senior Personal Finance Writer, Vanguard Australia.
Cash inflows into ASX-listed ETFs rose over April despite shorter trading from Easter and Anzac Day.
Australia’s exchange traded funds sector hit another new high by the end of April, with data released by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) showing the value of ETF assets on the Australian market exceeded $142.1 billion.
That was up by more than $3 billion from the end of March, when Australian ETF assets under management reached $139 billion, and was despite the shorter trading month due to Easter and Anzac Day.
Vanguard remained the largest Australian ETFs issuer by assets under management with $44.3 billion of assets (31.21% of total industry assets).
Broad investment trends
Equities
ASX-listed ETF issuers received $721.6 million in investor cash inflows combined, up from $553 million in March, taking year-to-date cash inflows to more than $2.5 billion.
Vanguard has received the largest portion of ETF cash flow year-to-date with $975 million (representing 38.4% of total cash flow).
Net inflows into Australian equity ETFs during April totalled $321.3 million, with the value of funds invested in this segment rising from $38.3 billion at the end of March to $39.1 billion.
Meanwhile, while global equity ETFs recorded outflows of $70.9 million, this ETFs segment still remains the largest overall and golds more than $66.1 billion of investor assets.
Fixed interest
Meanwhile, net inflows continued into Australian dollar and global fixed interest ETFs rose in April.
The ASX data shows $237.6 million was invested into Australian dollar bond ETFs in April (up from $200.7 million March), with total assets under management in this segment rising from around $12.4 billion in March to $12.6 billion.
Net inflows into global fixed interest ETFs totalled $134.2 million (down from $152 million in March), although assets under management rose from $4 billion to around $4.2 billion.
In total, ASX-listed fixed interest ETF assets under management rose from $16.4 billion to around $16.8 billion over the month.
How to get the most out of ETFs
ETFs have become a hugely popular investment product around the world because they are relatively low cost and highly accessible to everyday investors.
For many new investors, or those who don’t have the time or resources to construct a portfolio using individual investments, ETFs can serve as the primary investment vehicle.
Tony Kaye is Senior Personal Finance Writer at Vanguard Australia. In his role, Tony regularly produces topical investment-related articles and educational content designed to help investors make well-informed decisions.
Tony is a former managing editor and financial journalist, and his articles are published in Vanguard’s weekly Smart Investing newsletter and elsewhere.
The above material has been republished with the permission of Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd.