European, Middle East and Africa-listed ETPs saw $2.3bn worth of inflows for the month of May, the lowest of the year so far, according to BlackRock’s ETP flows reports.
Despite the trade war between the US and China sparking multiple dips in the global equity market, it was US equity products which received the majority of the cash. US equity ETPs had $1.6bn worth of inflows in May which follows $300m outflows in April. Year-to-date, the asset class only has a net inflow figure of $1.3bn having endured two months of negative flows this year.
Investors cashed out of European and emerging market equity ETPs as both regions had outflows of $900m and $300m, respectively, in May.
This was the fourth consecutive month European equity ETPs had negative flows whereas this was the first negative month for emerging market equity ETPs since August last year.
Momentum is shifting back to gold ETPs which received $800m over the same period. This was the first positive month for the commodity since January when volatility hit the equity market in Q4 2018.
As volatility returns again this year, BlackRock says it has not seen investors flocking to safe havens, such as gold, that they would usually expect. This was a similar story back in February last year when volatility spiked but gold ETPs saw outflows of $1bn.
In March, the UK passive market as a whole pulled in $1bn as investors moved away from active funds, according to the Investment Association.
