KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): The gold exchange-traded fund (GOLDETF) continued to be the most active ETF in February 2022 with RM2.4 million traded for the month, according to Bursa Digital Research's ETF Performance Report.

After GOLDETF, the VP-DJ Shariah China A- SHARES 100 ETF - MYR (CHINA -100 MYR) is the second-most active ETF with RM2.08 million traded value, followed by the Tradeplus S&P New China Tracker-MYR (CHINAETF-MYR) with RM1.65 million traded value, the Kenanga KLCI Daily (-1X) Inverse ETF (KLCI1XI) with RM586,648 and the Kenanga KLCI Daily 2X Leveraged ETF (KLCI2XL) with RM353,454.

“KLCI index funds were actively traded during mid of February in tandem with market volatility caused by geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine. KLCI2XL appeared as [the] top five most active ETF by value in February.

“Collectively, the top five most active ETF by value commanded 82.5% of total traded value of the ETF in February,” said Bursa.

Meanwhile, CHINA100-MYR led the total volume traded in February with 1.2 million units, followed by Gold ETF (965,800), KLCI1XI (310,200), CHINAETF-MYR (289,500) and Tradeplus MSCI Asia Ex Japan REITS Tracker (AXJ-REITSETF) with 250,600 units traded. The five most active ETFs by volume accounted for 74.4% of total ETF trading volume in February.

Year-to-date (YTD), GOLDETF was the most actively traded ETF, reversing the lead of fixed income ETF in 2021. “GOLDETF contributed 35.8% of total traded value and 30.7% of total traded volume of YTD,” Bursa said. 

According to Bursa, 4.1 million ETF shares worth RM8.6 million were traded in February 2022.

Foreign inflow jumps 637% m-o-m

Foreign inflow significantly increased by 637% month-on-month in February, mainly led by FBMKLCI-EA, ABFMY1 and GOLDETF. Fund flow includes both on market transaction and direct business transaction.

FBMKLCI-EA stands for FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ETF, while ABFMY1 is the ABF Malaysia Bond Index Fund.

Bursa said local institutions were net buyers of GOLDETF and KLCI2XL.

In terms of YTD performance of ETF fund flows, local institutions recorded RM2.8 million, followed by local retailers (RM1.9 million), local nominees — which include retail and non-retail investors trading through nominee accounts in the Central Depository System opened under Authorised Depository Agents (ADA) (RM600,000) — and foreign investors (RM300,000).