Investors have pumped a total of $61.66 billion into these index-tracking entities so far this year.

Exchange-traded funds and products listed globally gathered $44.31 billion of net inflows in February, taking the total for the last two months to $61.66 billion, suggesting that the enthusiasm for these “passive” entities is not abating.

Assets invested in the global ETF/ETP industry finished the month up by 3.15 per cent, from $5.16 trillion at the end of January, reaching a record $5.32 trillion, according to ETFGI, a research organization tracking the sector.

“Throughout February markets pushed higher, resulting in the best start to the year since 1996, with major US indices comfortably erasing any hangover felt from the Q4 2018 market rout. US-China trade talks appeared to have made good progress while Brexit stalled even with the 29th march deadline looming,” Deborah Fuhr, managing partner and founder of ETFGI, said.

“Central banks in the developed economies have maintained an accommodative stance to ease growth slowdown fears, with the US Federal Reserve reiterating their new ‘patient’ policy stance. The S&P 500 was up 3.21 per cent by the end of February bringing year-to-date returns to 11.48 per cent, similarly the S&P Europe 350 was up 3.45 per cent for the month, with year-to-date returns of 9.89 per cent. The [Japanese] Topix 150 finished February up 0.33 per cent, with year-to-date returns of 7.62 per cent,” she noted. 

“Emerging and frontier markets saw more modest gains, finishing February up 0.74 per cent and 2.62 per cent, bringing year-to-date returns to 8.56 per cent and 7.35 per cent, respectively,” she added.