International equities drive surge in ETF flows after muted June

Flows into international equities-themed exchange traded funds (ETFs) have seen total industry inflows soar during the month of July to a record $5.82 billion, according to Betashares’ monthly Australian ETF Review.

July’s results exceeded the record last set in January this year by over $1 billion and surpassed June’s muted flows by well over $3 billion, setting another record high in total funds under management of $289.2 billion – an increase of 3.1 per cent or $8.7 billion.

In the last 12 months, the Australian ETF industry has recorded growth of 34.1 per cent or $73.6 billion.

Investors injected $2.8 billion into international equity ETFs, followed by fixed income at $1.3 billion and Australian equities at $962 million. This comes as the impacts of global trade policy changes settled over the past month, with the outlook for US tariffs further clarified.

Cryptocurrency ETFs retained their dominance in terms of performance, with Ethereum-related products among the top performing funds in July.

The Monochrome Ethereum ETF topped the list at 57.87 per cent, followed by Global X 21Shares Ethereum ETF (57.20 per cent), Betashares Ethereum ETF (50.86 per cent), Munro Climate Change Leaders Fund (Managed Fund) (26.66 per cent) and Munro Concentrated Global Growth Fund (Managed Fund) (23.20 per cent).

In terms of ETF issuer funds under management, the top five providers maintain a 78.8 per cent market capitalisation – shared between Vanguard ($80 billion or 27.7 per cent), Betashares ($54.5 billion or 18.9 per cent), iShares by BlackRock ($49 billion or 16.9 per cent), VanEck ($27.4 billion or 9.5 per cent) and Dimensional ($16.8 billion or 5.8 per cent).