October was second-strongest month for ETF inflows

Canadian ETFs enjoyed inflows of $3.5 billion in October, bringing listed ETF assets to $192 million, according to a report from Montreal-based National Bank of Canada.

Canadian equities ETFs had a “stellar” month, bringing in $1.1 billion weeks after the S&P/TSX Composite Index hit a record high on Sept. 20. This was driven largely by growth in three broad market-cap weighted ETFs, a low-volatility ETF and two sector ETFs (one invests in the energy sector; the other, the financial sector).

U.S. equities ETFs, on the other hand, saw “mild” inflows of $99 million, as creations in broad market and low-volatility ETFs were almost offset by outflows from dividend/income and financial sector ETFs. International equities ETFs had inflows of $338 million.

Once again, fixed-income ETFs had the highest inflows of the month, raking in $1.7 billion in new assets. High-interest savings ETFs overtook Canadian aggregate bonds as the preferred fixed-income subcategory, while outflows were led by long-term Canada government bonds, preferred shares and floating-rate high-yield ETFs.

Multi-asset ETFs brought in $252 million, while inverse/levered ETFs had inflows of $23 million. The only asset class that lost money during the month was commodities, which saw outflows of $33 million.

There was no change in the number of ETF providers in Canada (35) in October, which was the second-strongest month for inflows in 2019, National Bank reported. Fourteen products launched during the month.

Read the full report.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.