For the second time, assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed globally broke through the US$3 trillion milestone at the end of Q1.
The first time the milestone was broken was at the end of May 2015.
During March ETFs/ETPs listed globally gathered US$45.30 in net new assets, which marks the 26th consecutive month of net inflows.
The Global ETF/ETP industry had 6,240 ETFs/ETPs, with 12,042 listings, assets of US$3.07 trillion, from 277 providers listed on 64 exchanges in 51 countries, according to preliminary data from ETFGI’s March 2016 global ETF and ETP industry insights report.
Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI, said U.S. equities rebounded in March ending the month up 7%.
She added emerging markets and developed ex US markets also had a strong March ending up 12.5% and 7.2% respectively.
“Based on comments from the Fed there is a growing belief that interest rates will be held lower for longer than previously anticipated,” Fuhr said. “The European Central Bank cut rates and announced additional stimulus will begin in April, accelerating the rate of bond purchases from 60 to 80 billion euros per month.”
[related_stories]In March 2016, ETFs/ETPs saw net inflows of US$45.30 billion. Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with US$26.30 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs/ETPs with US$14.80 Bn, and commodity ETFs/ETPs with US$2.42 billion.
In March 2016, 71 new ETFs/ETPs were launched by 27 providers and 30 ETFs/ETPs were closed.
iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in March with US$20.97 billion, followed by Vanguard with US$9.74 billion and SPDR ETFs with US$6.25 Bn in net inflows.
YTD, iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows YTD with US$24.54 billion, followed by Vanguard with US$17.82 billion and SPDR ETFs with US$8.78 Bn net inflows.
S&P Dow Jones has the largest amount of ETF/ETP assets tracking its benchmarks with 27.5% market share; MSCI is second with 14.6% market share, followed by FTSERussell with 12.4% market share.