Ursula Marchioni, Head of ETP Research at BlackRock commented:“The clear trend amongst investors in June was a renewed demand for equities, particularly in developed markets. After outflows in May, US equity demand rebounded to top the charts in June. Small and mid-cap US equity funds and products offering exposure to the healthcare, technology and financial sectors saw particular interest, suggesting confidence in the outlook for the US economy and a renewed appetite for risk-taking. Interest in Japanese equities continued and grew into a global trend, going beyond the previously recorded inflows which were mostly driven by Asia Pacific investors. Flows into US-listed Japan products exceeded $1bn for the fifth consecutive month.
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Key statistics for June and the first half of 2015
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Best ever first half-year for ETPs: global industry attracted $146.1bn in net new assets in H1 2015; $20.8bn in June. Previous record ETP asset gathering in first half was $123.4bn in 2014
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During the month of June, US equity trackers gathered $9.8bn and became the most popular asset class of the month
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Other popular themes for the month were: Japanese equities – which attracted $5.7bn – and currency hedged equity funds, which continued to grow adding $3.3bn in June to the YTD level of $47.1bn
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The strength of these 3 equity trends was only partially offset by outflows of $5.8bn recorded from China equity ETPs
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Looking at other asset classes: Fixed income ETPs recorded outflows of $2.9bn, the lowest level over the last nine-months
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Commodity funds continued to record outflows – mostly driven by outflows in crude oil ($1bn) and gold ($0.2bn)
“Looking at ETPs tracking pan-European assets, the flows behaviour reflected the wait-and-see attitude towards Greece’s negotiations most ETP investors implemented. European equity ETPs continued to attract new money in Q2 2015, but at a much lower rate than that recorded at the beginning of the year. This trend balanced out with the outflows recorded from European government and corporate bond trackers. While still contingent on the route that events in Greece take, there are reasons to think that the flows could accelerate again later this year, at least for European equity funds, since the positive outlook for growth in the region should ultimately support stock markets.”
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