The ETFS Russell 2000 Fund of US small cap equities has extended its recent out-performance by a further three per cent, taking its gains to 37 per cent over the past month and outperfo
The ETFS Russell 2000 Fund of US small cap equities has extended its recent out-performance by a further three per cent, taking its gains to 37 per cent over the past month and outperforming the MSCI World Index by 11 per cent.
ETF Securities says small cap companies tend to outperform when growth plays pick-up. The ETFS Russell 2000 Fund has benefited strongly from renewed yield and risk appetite over recent weeks.
Utilities-based commodity ETFs also performed relatively strongly last week, with ETFS WNA Global Nuclear Energy Fund, ETFS Janney Global Water Fund and the ETFS Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Utilities Fund making up three of the top five performing equity ETFs with returns of approx two per cent last week and 13 per cent to 27 per cent over the past month.
This outperformance may represent some catch-up on the part of utilities that have been lagging sharp gains in many other commodity equity ETFs over the past three months.
A number of cyclically-oriented commodity equity ETFs continue to perform strongly, with further gains last week for the ETFS Russell Global Coal Fund and the ETFS Russell Global Steel Large Cap Fund. ETFS Russell Global Coal Fund, ETFS Russell Global Steel Large Cap Fund and ETFS Basic Resources are all in the top five equity ETFs by return performers over the past month, with each one up between 32 per cent and 39 per cent.
The ETFS S-Net ITG Global Agri-Business Fund remains one of the top performing ETF Securities’ equity ETFs over recent history, up over 11 per cent YTD and almost ten per cent over the past six months. This puts its out-performance against MSCI World at 17 per cent over the past six months. ETF Securities says agriculture’s low correlation to the business cycle and strong long term supply-demand fundamentals are underpinning its top performance.
