Risk assets continued to perform in the first week of 2018, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.9%, the S&P 500 up 2.6%, while the EURO STOXX 50 rose 3.0% and the Nikkei 225 appreciated by 4.2%. Growth ETFs were the top performers for the week with ETFS ROBO Global Robotics and Automation ETF (ROBO) returning 4.3% and emerging market and Asia Pacific ETFs (IBK and UBP) also performing strongly. The real estate sector provided the poorest performing, non-leveraged funds for the week (DJRE and RENT).
The Australian dollar continued its month-long rally, gaining 0.7% to breach US 78.5c for the first time since October.
Precious metals also performed strongly last week, with gold up 1.3%. ETFS Physical Platinum was the top performing commodity fund for the week, returning 3.9%. The broad Bloomberg Commodity Index declined 0.3%.
The Australian ETF market saw inflows of A$55m and outflows of A$28m from domestically domiciled ETFs last week. The largest inflows were into BetaShares FTSE RAFI Australia 200 ETF (QOZ), while the largest outflows were from SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Financials ex A-REITS Fund (OZF).
...
ETFS Trade idea – The Rise and Rise of Technology
Technology driven advances and the pace of innovation are the defining mega trend of our era. Developments in fields such as robotics and automation are changing many industries and are having an impact on the way we work and live.
Our Future Present range of exchange traded funds offers simple and intelligent ways to bring your portfolio into the 21st century by capturing growth in companies at the forefront of the technology revolution.
...
In the final ETFS Weekly Market Monitor for 2017 we look back at the best and worst performers for the year-to-date. Non-Japan Asia was the standout segment within equity markets, with UBP, IKO and IAA all returning in excess of 30% so far this year. The poorest performers included a range of bearish products (BBUS and BBOZ