OREANDA-NEWS. With only three trading sessions left in the month, Singapore’s 10 most active Exchange Traded Funds in May comprised four fixed-income ETFs, three MSCI emerging market index ETFs, one gold ETF and two Straits Times Index (STI) ETFs.

The five most active ETFs by turnover in 2015 were: SPDR® Gold Shares, SPDR® Straits Times Index ETF, ABF Singapore Bond Index ETF, db x-trackers Markit iBoxx ABF Korea Government UCITS ETF, and db x-trackers MSCI Indonesia Index UCITS ETF. All five have registered significant year-over-year increases in turnover.

ABF Singapore Bond Index ETF, which invests in the constituents of the iBoxx ABF Singapore Bond Index, was the third-most active ETF in May, with turnover surging more than 40-fold from the year-ago period. The iBoxx ABF Singapore Bond Index tracks a basket of high-quality bonds issued primarily by the Singapore government and quasi-Singapore government entities. This ETF is managed by Nikko AM.

Volatility in equity markets and an uncertain outlook for the global economy have spurred haven demand for fixed-income assets, even as investors brace for a possible interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve in its 14-15 June policy-setting meeting.

Odds of a Fed hike in June have fallen to 28%, same as a week ago but down from 34% on Wednesday, while the probability of a move in July remains above 50%, according to fed funds data tracked by Bloomberg.

Month-to-Date Performances

The 10 most active ETFs on SGX in the month-to-date are SPDR® Gold Shares, SPDR® Straits Times Index ETF, ABF Singapore Bond Index ETF, db x-trackers Markit iBoxx ABF Korea Government UCITS ETF, db x-trackers MSCI Indonesia Index UCITS ETF, iShares MSCI India Index ETF,  iShares J.P. Morgan USD Asia Credit Bond Index ETF, Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF, db x-trackers MSCI Thailand Index UCITS ETF (DR) and iShares Barclays Capital USD Asia High Yield Bond Index ETF.

In the month thus far, these 10 most active ETFs averaged a total return of 0.1%, taking the one-year and three-year total returns to -3.7% and 0.1% respectively. The three best performers in terms of month-to-date total returns were iShares Barclays Capital USD Asia High Yield Bond Index ETF, iShares J.P. Morgan USD Asia Credit Bond Index ETF and iShares MSCI India Index ETF.

The above-mentioned ETFs saw a 29% YoY increase in turnover for the month thus far, increasing from S$95.8 million in the May 2015 month-to-date to S$123.6 million in the same period this year. This brings the total 12-month turnover to S$18.6 billion.

The three most active ETFs over the first 26 sessions of May were SPDR® Gold Shares, SPDR® Straits Times Index ETF and ABF Singapore Bond Index ETF.

The 10 most active ETFs in the May 2016 month-to-date are detailed below in Singapore dollars and sorted by MTD turnover.