Exchange-traded products (including ETFs) listed in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) recorded $15.6 billion net inflows during November, the third-largest inflow month of the year and up from $14.3bn in October, according to BlackRock’s latest ‘ETP Landscape’ report.
EMEA-listed equity ETPs recorded $11.6bn net inflows in November.
Equity ETPs took the majority of inflows for the third consecutive month with $11.6bn.
Emerging market equity ETPs returned strongly in November, registering their first net inflows for four months with $2.4bn. This is the third-largest monthly inflow for the exposure in 2019 and marks a shift after $5.1bn net outflows were recorded between August and October.
Flows into fixed income ETPs moderated slightly from $4.9bn in October to $4.3bn.
ETPs providing exposure to emerging market debt have been popular amongst EMEA investors in 2019 with November marking the ninth month of inflows into the asset class this year. Investors showed a preference for local currency ETPs which gained $1.4bn while hard currency ETPs lost $0.4bn.
Flows into high yield bond ETPs turned positive in November for the first time in three months, adding $0.4bn. Although there were inflows at the aggregate level, investor conviction on the exposure appears to have dampened from earlier in the year when the asset class recorded just one month of outflows between January and August 2019.
EMEA-listed high yield ETPs are shaping up for a record year with $7.0bn added so far, compared to their previous full-year record of $5.5bn set in 2015.
Elsewhere in fixed income, investment-grade bond ETPs continued to be popular with investors adding $1.8bn in November, the largest inflow month since June. Rates ETPs, which haven’t had a single month of outflows in 2019, gathered a $0.7bn in November.
Commodity ETPs registered their first outflow month since April, ending a six-month run of consecutive inflows. November was the biggest outflow month for commodities this year with investors selling the asset class to the tune of $0.4bn.
Outflows were concentrated in gold ETPs where investors sold $0.6bn in the largest monthly outflow this year. Investors also sold $0.1bn of silver ETPs on the back of a perceived cooldown in trade tensions and signs of stabilization in macro data.
Despite this, year-to-date flows into gold ETPs remain strong at $7.5bn and flows into silver ETPs are steady at $0.6bn.
Investors favoured broad market commodity ETPs in November with $0.5bn net inflows. The flows represented the largest buying month of broad market commodity ETPs this year as investors sought to add diversification benefits to their portfolios.