Issuers focus on country-specific exposure during emerging markets slowdown.

• April adds 33 new ETFs spread across 19 different issuers. BlackRock led with six ETFs; no other issuer launched more than three
• 22 funds were launched in the Americas, six added in Emea and five launched in Apac
• 28 equity funds added in April; five fixed income ETFs launched

April new listings

Out of the 33 funds added in April, two thirds provided exposure to a specific country including Ireland, Australia, Pakistan and China. Issuers are looking to attract investors to the unique benefits of these countries instead of providing blanketed coverage of regions such as emerging markets, which have seen poor growth due to the heavy weightings of particular countries.

The general trend continues to be large and large-mid cap equities, which is very common when issuers enter into new and smaller regions such as Pakistan.

There were also three ETFs that focused on high dividend-earning stocks, a focus that has grown by more than 30% in total number of ETFs since the beginning of 2014 due to strong investor demand.

March flows

Since their inception in March, the 37 newly launched funds have attracted over $1.03bn in total assets. In the Americas, there were 25 funds launched in March that have drawn a combined $820m in assets from investors. The seven funds launched in Emea earned $110m in net flows while the five ETFs added in Apac gained $85.7m since their March inception.

The iShares Exponential Technologies ETF (XT) dominated the attention of investors, drawing in $644m in assets since it was launched in late March. The fund focuses on companies in both emerging and developed markets that are seen as innovation leaders in the technology field.

Emea's leading ETF launched in March was the Lyxor Ultra Long Duration Lowest Rated IG Euro Govt UCITS ETF (MTHL) which has added $54.6m in assets since its launch, despite seeing poor total returns.

Out of the five funds added in Apac during March, the Japan TSE Next Notes Nomura Japan Equity High Dividend 70 (2048) saw the largest inflows with $41.5m in new assets.

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.