Exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products listed globally experienced record net inflows of $66.3 billion during March, according to research from ETF industry consultant ETFGI. The strong net gatherings marked the 38th consecutive month of positive net inflows within the space.
ETPs listed globally gathered $66.3bn in net new assets during March 2017, according to ETFGI.
Year to date (YTD), a record $197.3bn in ETF/ETP net new assets have been created, more than double the net inflows of $70.0bn recorded at this point last year. At the end of Q1 2017, total ETF/ETP assets listed globally reached a new record high of $3.913 trillion.
Commenting on the growth in ETF assets during Q1 2017, Deborah Fuhr, managing partner and a founder of ETFGI, noted that robust performance in global equity markets contributed to the new watermark.
“Investors have favoured equities over fixed income and commodities as equity markets have performed positively in March and in the first quarter of 2017,” she said. “The S&P 500 gained 0.1% in March and 6.1% during the first quarter. International equity markets performed strongly in March and in the first quarter with the international markets ex US up 2.6% in March and 7.5% in Q1 and emerging markets up 2.1% in March and 11.1% in Q1.”
Equity ETFs/ETPs were most in demand during March, gathering net inflows of $49.1bn and bringing YTD net inflows to $139.7bn. Fixed income ETFs/ETPs experienced net inflows of $11.7bn in March, growing YTD net inflows to $39.2bn; and commodity ETFs/ETPs accumulated net inflows of $1.3bn in March while YTD net inflows stand at $8.9bn.
iShares and Vanguard attracted the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in March with $27.3bn and $13.6bn respectively, while also leading net inflows YTD with $65.4bn and $42.8bn respectively. SPDR ETFs was the third most successful gatherer of net new assets YTD although its net inflows of $13.9bn lagged the two frontrunners considerably.
At the end of March 2017, the global ETF/ETP industry had 6,771 ETFs/ETPs, with 12,750 listings from 305 providers listed on 67 exchanges in 55 countries.