The global exchange traded fund industry continued to expand over April as investors shifted their focus back onto fixed-income assets. Meanwhile, the slight market pullback in mid-month cooled interest for equities.
According to a BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) research note, global exchange traded products, which include both ETFs and exchange traded notes, added $10.3 billion in April after seeing $23 billion in new inflows over March. [ETF Performance Report: April]
Nevertheless, the industry has attracted $79.9 billion in new assets year-to-date, compared to the $66.3 billion over the same period year-over-year.
Fixed-income funds attracted $9.5 billion in new inflows in April, the best monthly increase since May 2012. U.S. Treasury funds led the group, adding $2.2 billion, and are now up for three months in a row. Additionally, short-duration funds saw heavy interest as a hedge against interest rate risk, gathering $5.6 billion.
In the equities space, stock funds saw $9.6 billion in new inflows over April. Top stock strategies included dividend income, which brought in $3.4 billion, and minimum volatility strategies, which saw $2.5 billion in inflows.
Looking at international markets, Japanese equity ETPs attracted $4.8 billion on the Bank of Japan’s ongoing aggressive policies. Emerging market equity funds experienced $3.5 billion in outflows. [Abenomics: Yen-Hedged ETFs for Japan Up 30% in 2013]
Gold ETPs were the biggest losers in April, losing $8.7 billion in assets, as traders dumped gold in light of U.S. inflation expectations, disappointing Chinese GDP report and rumors of distressed Eurozone countries dumping gold reserves. [Gold ETF Outflows Persist After Fed]
Next page: Top and Bottom ETFs
The most popular new U.S.-listed ETPs this year include the SPDR BlackStone/GSO Senior Loan ETF (NYSEArca: SRLN), which has $155 million in assets, Barclays ETN+ Select MLP ETN (NYSEAra: ATMP), which as $110 million in assets, and the iShares MSCI USA Momentum Index Fund (NYSEArca: MTUM), which as $104 million in assets.
The most popular U.S.-listed ETFs as of April include WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (NSYEArca: DXJ), which saw $5.4 billion in inflows, iShares MSCI Japan (NYSEARca: EWJ), which added $4.2 billion, and iShares Russell 2000 (NYSEArca: IWM), which attracted $2.8 billion.
U.S.-listed ETFs with the largest redemptions include SPDR Gold (NYSEArca: GLD) -$13.4 billion, SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY) -$5.4 billion and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: EEM) -$2.4 billion.
Year-to-date, global ETP have attracted $79.9 billion in assets, outpacing last year’s first quarter expansion. Investors have jumped onto developed market equity ETPs, which added $73.6 billion so far this year, as they rode the market rally. Meanwhile, commodity ETPs were the biggest losers, seeing $17.8 billion in net redemptions.
As of the end of April, there were 4,852 global ETPs with $2.1 trillion in assets under management.
For more information on ETF asset flows, visit our ETF performance reports category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.