Defensive commodity-related equity ETFs returned to the fore of ETF Securities’ equity ETFs last week as equity markets took a breather from their frenetic rally of recent weeks. Renewed concerns over the global economic outlook,…
including concerns associated with weaker than expected US employment data, helped to pare investor risk appetite last week. Last week’s retracement may also reflect profit taking by some investors following double digit gains in a majority of ETF Securities commodity equity ETFs, with the ETFS Commodity ETF platform up 12% on average over the past month.
The ETFS S-Net ITG Global Agri Business Fund (AGRI) strengthened its position as one of the most consistent performers, posting further gains last week despite a 2% drop in the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 Index. This makes AGRI one of the top 3 performers of ETF Securities equity ETFs since the start of 2009 and over the past 3 and 6 months. Also, AGRI has outperformed the MSCI AC World Total Return Index by 31 percentage points over the past 6 months. Agriculture’s low correlation to the business cycle and strong long term supply-demand fundamentals are key factors supporting investor demand for AGRI.
The ETFS Russell Global Gold Fund (AUCO) also benefited from the uptick in risk aversion last week, with gold prices up 2% as defensive assets prospered. AUCO remains the strongest performing ETF Securities equity ETF over the past 6 months, up 75% since mid-November 2008. Investment in gold miners have often provided leveraged exposure to underlying gold prices, with miners profiting from stronger revenue and falling costs.
Source:ETFWorld.co.uk – ETFSecurities
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