Oil and gas ETFs attract funds

Oil and oil-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are attracting the maximum investments across commodities and sectors and a record $42.6 million (Dh156.4m) worth of investments flowed into oil and gas ETFs in the second week of September, a new Barclays Global Investors report showed.

A total of $187.5m worth of investments has flowed into oil and gas ETFs this year with $58.5m worth of investments in September alone, data sent by Deborah Fuhr, the global head of ETF research at Barclays Global Investors, showed.

"The global ETF industry has grown from nothing into a multi-billion sector in 16 years, and there are no signs that investor interest in ETFs is fading, despite the current market," Fuhr said in a note.

Oil and gas ETFs were shown to be performing better than a host of other categories that included automobiles and parts, banks, construction materials, financial services, technology and communications.

A few such energy ETFs whose performance was tracked by Barclays include iShares DJ Stoxx 600 oil and gas (DE), Lyxor ETF DJ Stoxx Oil and Gas and db-X trackers DJ Stoxx Oil and Gas STR.

Global ETF assets hit an all time high of $862 billion in July 2009 – seven per cent above the previous all time high of $805bn in April 2008, said Barclays. The global ETF industry had 1,768 ETFs with 3,129 listings, and assets of $862bn from 94 providers on 42 bourses around the world.

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