Reflecting a pattern seen in other developed markets worldwide, the Australian ETF industry continued to grow during April with approximately AUD$7 million of net inflows as funds under management grew to AUD$5.45 billion, just short of a record high, according to BetaShares’ Australian ETF Review for April.

The Australian ETF industry continued to grow during April with approximately AUD$7 million of net inflows as funds under management grew to AUD$5.45 billion.

The top performing ETFs for the month were those that tracked property securities and palladium reversing the trend of last month, where international equities were the stand outs.

A continuing trend in ETFs, and one in evidence in April, has been the gradual shift between competing products as investors conduct their due diligence and look for similar beta exposures at lower costs.

Commenting on the review, Drew Corbett, Head of Investment Strategy at BetaShares, said: “We are continuing to see gradual shifts in funds across competing products, not just for broad market exposures but across commodities and dividend ETFs. This has been the same experience in overseas ETF markets and is a sign of investor engagement and awareness.”

April also marked the first full month of trading in fixed income ETFs, following March product launches from iShares and Russell (Vanguard also entered the fray with a fixed income ETF in April). While inflows have started slowly, there is an expectation this will increase as investors become more familiar with the asset class.

“While the beginnings for fixed income ETFs have been humble, we expect the adoption of this new category and other yield products to help drive growth in the ETF industry.”

“Finally, we are encouraged by a steady increase in trading values which points to a positive sentiment and increased activity during the second half of 2012,” said Corbett.