BlackRock Global ETP Flows : Muted flows: $63.1B was added to global ETPs in September, the third consecutive month-on-month decline, down from $65.7B in August.
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BlackRock Global ETP Flows September 2023
Annemarie Stephenson, Co-Head iShares UK Asset Manager Sales
Positive territory: equities saw net inflows pick up to $50.5B in September, but this was partly offset by a slower pace of fixed income buying ($15.4B). Commodities (-$3.5B) saw continued selling.
Rates rule: rates continued to dominate fixed income flows, with $16.9B added.
Back in bUSiness
The pickup in equity flows was largely driven by increased allocations to US equities ($35.1B), where flows returned to levels we saw in June and July – and were significantly higher than August’s muted $11.0B. Most of the US equity buying went into large cap exposures ($30.7B), and more than offset the rotation we saw out of some US sectors (see page 2). Buying of EMEA-listed US equity ETPs hit a 2023 monthly high, with $4.7B of inflows. In line with the global flows, most of this went into large caps, although allocations to EMEA-listed US sectors were in positive territory, in contrast to the global trend.
Elsewhere in equities, existing trends continued with flows into Japanese equities, driven by APAC-listed buying. In contrast, EMEA-listed Japanese equity ETPs posted $0.7B of outflows and US-listed Japanese equity ETPs lost $1.1B – the first outflow month since February for the former and March for the latter. Global flows into EM equity ETPs dropped to $3.3B, while European equity flows stayed negative (-$1.6B).
Rates lead again
Rates exposures have accounted for the majority of fixed income (FI) ETP flows in 2023, and this trend continued in September, with $16.9B added. However, the headline FI flow figure was weighed down by selling of spread assets , taking YTD FI flows to $235.1B. High yield (HY, -$1.8B) marked a second month of outflows, while $1.5B went out of emerging market debt ETPs. Investment grade (IG) credit marked its largest outflow month since March 2020 and its second-highest on record, with $4.1B of outflows. Selling was focused in US-listed IG ETPs, although EMEA-listed IG posted $0.6B of outflows. The selling intensified in the last week of the month.
Tech holds up
September marked a shift in broad-based sector flow trends, with energy ($0.8B) and tech ($0.6B) the only two sectors to post inflows. The tech buying globally came despite a rotation out of US tech ETPs to the tune of -$2.9B, while energy inflows were tilted in favour of US exposures.
The remainder of US equity sectors saw net selling in September, with $2.0B of outflows from US financials, 1.6B out of US healthcare, $0.7B out of US industrials, and $0.6B of selling from US materials. These US sector outflows contributed to broader sector trends, with net selling across all four of these sectors at a global level. Among European equity sectors, industrials ($0.1B) was the only sector to postmeaningful inflows in September, while financials (-$0.6B) bore the brunt of the outflows.
Source: ETFWorld.co.uk
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