ETF assets hit an all time high

The ETF benefits have attracted many institutional investors and retail investors since the first launch in U.S. in 1993. U.S. ETFs enjoyed $47.4 billion inflow in the first seven months of 2009 while regular mutual funds suffered an outflow of $50.6 billion, reports SmartInMoney.

During the first seven month of 2009 global net sales of ETFs was $65.7 billion, which was still lower than the net sales of mutual funds of $97.5 billion, according to Strategic Insight.

A worldwide trend has seen global ETF assets hit an all time high of $891 billion at the end of August 2009 according to the September 2009 edition report from Barclays Global Investors (BGI). The new high of global ETF assets is 3.9% above the previous all time high of $858 billion set in July 2009. Year-to-date assets have risen by 25.3% which is more than the 18.0% rise in the MSCI World Index in US dollar terms. The universal ETF industry had 1,773 ETFs with 3,137 listings from 95 providers on 41 exchanges at the end of August 2009.

The U.S. ETF assets also hit an all time high of $607 billion at the end of August 2009, a 4.3% increase from the previous all time high of $582 billion set in July 2009. Meanwhile, the U.S. ETF industry had 710 ETFs, from 22 providers on 3 exchanges.