This week's highlights
Asian equities dominated the top performing funds last week, with CNEW, ASIA, IKO and IAA all returning 3.5% or more. Australian shares also had a strong week with the S&P/ASX 200 reaching new all-time highs. DIV and ILC were the week’s best performing domestic equity funds. Global banks (BNKS), gold miners (GDX and MNRS) and a range of commodity funds were the biggest decliners for the week.
Precious metals were mixed. Gold rallied to 6-year highs following Iran’s military action against U.S. assets, before pulling-back as tensions eased. ETFS Physical Gold (GOLD) finished the week 1.0% higher. ETFS Palladium (ETPMPD) soared 7.5% to new all-time highs, while platinum and silver declined. Crude oil spiked above US$65/bbl before dropping sharply. OOO declined 6.3% for the week.
Total flows into domestically domiciled ETFs were $368m, while outflows totalled $72m. iShares Core MSCI World All Cap ETF (Hedged) (IHWL) saw the largest inflows for the week, followed by a range of equity, fixed income and commodity funds. Domestic equity funds IOZ and STW saw the bulk of the week’s outflows.
VAS was the most traded fund last week, followed by SWT and IOZ. IHWL and GOLD saw above average volumes.
ETFS Morningstar Global Technology ETF (TECH) returned 38.1% in 2019 and is already up 4.4% in 2020. TECH provides equally-weighted exposure to a diverse range of technology companies that have strong competitive advantages in their field and are attractively valued, as determined by Morningstar’s analyst ratings.