ETF assets continued to reach new highs in the final month of 2016, suggesting there is, as yet, no slowdown in appetite for these index-tracking funds.

Assets invested in globally listed exchange-traded funds reached a record high of $3.5 trillion at the end of last year, surpassing the previous record of £3.4 trillion recorded at the end of November 2016, according to data collected by ETFGI.

In December, ETFs gathered a record level of net inflows amounting to $65.2 billion, marking the 35th consecutive month of net inflows. During 2016, globally listed ETFs saw net inflows of $389.3 billion, exceeding the 2015 record of $372.3 billion.

Assets under management for US-listed ETFs hit new highs in December 2016, weighing in at $2.5 trillion. In Europe, AuM for ETFs reached $571 billion, and in Asia-Pacific - excluding Japan – were $135 billion.

As 2016 came to a close, the global ETF industry had 6,625 ETFs with 12,526 listings, assets of $3.5 trillion from 290 providers listed on 65 exchanges in 53 countries, according to ETFGI's data.

“2016 was an eventful year with a number of unexpected outcomes - the UK vote for Brexit to leave the European Union and the election of Trump as the US president. The S&P 500 gained 12 per cent while the DJIA increased 16.5 per cent for the year. All US sectors performed positively for the year, with the exception of health care. The VIX declined by a dramatic 22.9 per cent. European equities ended the year up 3.44 per cent. Canadian equities ended the year strongly with the S&P/TSX Composite and the S&P/TSX 60 were up 21.1 per cent and 21.4 per cent,” said Deborah Fuhr, co-founder and managing partner at ETFGI. (The VIX is an index tracking option market volatility in the US stock market, and known as a "fear" index - the higher the level, the more uncertainty there is, and vice versa.)