ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe gathered net inflows of USD6.10 billion in March, bringing year-to-date net inflows to USD31.59 billion, more than the USD27.27 billion gathered at this point last year.
Assets invested in the European ETF/ETP industry finished the month up 1.09 per cent, from USD850.28 billion at the end of February, to a record USD859.51 billion, according to ETFGI’s March 2019 European ETF and ETP industry landscape insights report.
Markets appear to have returned to the relative calm they had grown accustomed to over the past few years, according to Deborah Fuhr, managing partner and founder of ETFGI. “Returns for developed indices decelerated in March, as the effects of more cautious and accommodative central bank policies lose steam. The S&P 500 finished March up 1.94 per cent, with year-to-date returns of 13.65 per cent, marking its best quarter since 2009. The S&P Europe 350 rose 0.92 per cent in March, as economic data from the region continues to send mixed signals, bringing year-to-date returns to 10.90 per cent. The Topix 150 in Japan was up 0.32 per cent in March, bringing year-to-date returns of 7.96 per cent. Emerging & Frontier returns continued to outpace developed markets. The S&P Emerging BMI and Frontier BMI finished March up 1.74 per cent and 1.37 per cent, bringing year to date returns to 10.45 per cent and 8.82 per cent, respectively.”
11 April marks the 19th anniversary of the listing of the first ETFs in Europe. European Exchange Traded Fund Company launched two listed diversified return securities (LDRS) on the Deutsche Borse. These funds are co-managed by Merrill Lynch and track the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 and Stoxx 50 indexes.
At the end of March 2019, the European ETF/ETP industry had 2,327 ETFs/ETPs, from 69 providers listed on 29 exchanges. Following net inflows of USD6.10 billion and market moves during the month, assets invested in the European ETF/ETP industry increased by 1.09 per cent from USD850.28 billion at the end of February, to USD859.51 billion.
Equity ETFs/ETPs listed in Europe saw net outflows of USD846.49 million in March, bringing net inflows for 2019 to USD10.18 billion, substantially less than the USD22.49 billion in net inflows equity products had attracted by the end of March 2018. Fixed income ETFs/ETPs listed in Europe attracted net inflows of USD6.58 billion in March, bringing net inflows for 2019 to USD19.91 billion, considerably greater than the USD3.46 billion in net inflows fixed income products had attracted by the end of March 2018.
Substantial inflows can be attributed to the top 20 ETFs by net new assets, which collectively gathered USD7.97 billion in March, the iShares Core € Corp Bond UCITS ETF (IEBC LN) gathered USD1.26 billion alone.
