Aussie ETF investors break yearly inflow, AUM records

With still two months left in the year, Australian investors have set a new record in net flows to the exchange traded fund (ETF) market, new data from ETF specialist investment firm Betashares reveals.

ETF sector inflows to October hit $23.7 billion, surpassing the annual record of $23.2 billion set in 2021, figures from the end-of-month ETF review show.

The total market cap value of the Australian ETF sector (including the ASX and CBOE markets) now stands at $232.5 billion – also hit an all-time record high. Over the last 12 months, the Australian ETF sector grew by 52%, or $79.6 billion.

This has been achieved through strong net flows and positive market movements. Currently, 399 ETF products trade on the ASX and CBOE.

Net inflows for October 2024 alone hit $3.2 billion, with the launch of four new funds – the second strongest month for inflows after July.

It was a boon month for international equities products (with inflows of $1.2 billion), as well as fixed income products (+$974 million), and Australian equities (+$833 million).

Australian bonds ($706 million) and development world international equities ($616 million) also saw strong inflows in the month.

Among the top-performing ETF funds for October were Global X Physical Palladium (which invests in stocks linked to the critical metal), surging by 19.3%, Betashares Crypto Innovators ETF, which grew by 18.8%, and Monochrome Bitcoin ETF, up by 18.1%.

The top performing funds for the month by net inflows were long-time standout Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (VAS), up by $374 million, the Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond Index (Hedged) ETF (VBND), up by $223 million, and the Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (VGS), which increased by $173 million.

The biggest outflows were seen for the MGOC – Magellan Global Fund (Open Class) (Managed Fund), which lost $176.0 million, the iShares FTSE China Large-Cap ETF (IZZ), declining by $36.6 million, and the SPDR S&P/ASX 200 (STW), which dropped by $27.7 million.

The top funds by market cap were the VAS, which hit $16.8 billion, the VGS, at $9.5 billion, and iShares S&P 500 ETF $9.4 billion (IVV).

In the year to date, the top performing ETF issuers by new flows were Vanguard (+$7.29 billion), Betashares (+$6.50 billion), iShares (+$4.96 billion), VanEck (+$4.75 billion), and GlobalX (+$1.23 billion).