We have seen some outflows in a prominent “China A-Shares” ETF, that in spite of debuting less than two years ago in November of 2013, has already grown into a $1.3 billion fund, ASHR (db Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares, Expense Ratio 0.80%).
Approximately $240 million has exited the fund in recent sessions on what appears to be profit taking, but as we can see, the fund still has a substantial asset base and in spite of not being the “first” A-Shares specific fund to market, it still reigns as the largest from an AUM standpoint.
According to fund literature ASHR “seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before fees and expenses, of the CSI 300 Index. The CSI 300 Index is designed to reflect the price fluctuation and performance of the China A-share market and is composed of the 300 largest and most liquid stocks in the China A-share market. ASHR is subadvised by Harvest Global Investments Limited. The continued strategic partnership between Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and Harvest Global Investments Limited provides investors with unique access to the expansive Chinese economy and stock market.”
China A-Shares are certainly in demand from what we see in ETF land here in the U.S., as evidenced by several other offerings that exist. One of these is actually another product issued by Deutsche Bank and launched in May of 2014, known as ASHS (db Harvest CSI 500 China A-Shares Small Cap, Expense Ratio 0.82%).
This ETF of course offers access to the A-Shares Small Cap market, and we have been impressed by a notable pick up in trading volume in the fund in the past month or so, with day over day volume well above average levels. This ETF is substantially smaller than its cousin ASHR, with about $109 million in assets under management, and it ranks as the fourth largest ETF in AUM terms in the “China A-Shares” category.
Other notables here include PEK (Market Vectors China, Expense Ratio 0.72%, $156 million in AUM), as well as AFTY (CSOP FTSE China A50, Expense Ratio 0.99%) which debuted only in March of this year but has still managed to attract over $116 million since its debut.
The issuer here is CSOP Asset Management is based in Hong Kong, and currently has only this ETF, AFTY, listed in the U.S., but we would say this has been an impressive debut from a largely unknown issuer to date. Other smaller “A-Shares” ETFs are KBA (KraneShares Bosera MSCI China, Expense Ratio 0.85%, $39 million in AUM) and CHNA (PowerShares China A-Share Portfolio, Expense Ratio 0.50%, $11 million in AUM).
Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF
For more information on Street One ETF market commentary and ETF trade execution/liquidity services, contact Paul Weisbruch at pweisbruch@streetonefinancial.com
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