ETF Performance Report - April 2023
- Trading activities in the ETF space experienced a contraction in April with total volume/value traded contracted by 40%/29% to 2.29 mil units/RM5.55 mil, bringing the total YTD volume/value traded to 55.24 mil units/RM76.04 mil. April’s trading activities were 19%/17% below the 6-month average volume/value traded (excluding direct business transaction) of 2.84 mil units/RM6.68 mil. The trading suspension of 4 Leveraged & Inverse (L&I) ETFs since 24 March 2023 followed by the approval for the termination and delisting of the funds (these four ETFs contributed 7%/12% of the overall ETF market's total volume/value traded over the past six months on average) coupled with the lower number of trading days (Apr: 18 days vs Mar: 23 days) may partly explained the weak monthly activities.
- L&I ETFs suspended for trading with distribution proceeds released on 17 April 2023 include:
o TradePlus HSCEI Daily 2X Leveraged Tracker (HSCEI-2XL)
o TradePlus HSCEI Daily (-1X) Inverse Tracker (HSCEI-1XI)
o TradePlus NYSE FANG+ Daily 2X Leveraged Tracker (FANG-2XL)
o Tradeplus NYSE FANG+ Daily (-1X) Inverse Tracker (FANG-1XI) - China-themed ETFs trading activities in April were the softest YTD. Apart from the trading suspension of HSCEI-2XL and HSCEI-1XI, China-centric ETFs saw their combined value traded contracted by 53% MoM to RM1.23 mil in April with CHINA100-MYR cooled the most by value where its total value traded contracted by 76% MoM to RM313K.
- GOLDETF continued to dominate trading activities and gained market share in the ETFs sector. Led by a sharp rebound in gold prices since March 2023, trading momentum in GOLDETF picked up further where total volume/value traded was up by 6%/8% MoM to its 13-month high at 1.12 mil units/RM3.10 mil. As a whole, the commodity ETF contributed 56% (vs Mar: 37%) to the ETF market’s overall traded value in April. The price of the yellow metal extended its rally and reached a new high since March 2022 amid weakened sentiment on renewed recession fears, a weak US dollar, and the expectation that the US Fed will soon pause its rate hikes, sending investors scurrying for safe-haven assets such as gold.
