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An upturn in sales in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum could not mask the disappointing performance of currency-hedged ETFs in 2016.
Bloomberg data show almost €400 million of outflows from European domiciled currency-hedged equity ETFs last year, and even heightened demand for hedged fixed income and commodity products failed to prevent a near 13% fall in overall European domiciled currency-hedged ETF inflows.
However, 2017 has seen a sizeable return in interest from investors, with overall inflows up by almost €7.2 billion for the year to the end of April – more than 40% higher than the total for the whole of 2016.
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Nizam Hamid, |
According to Nizam Hamid, head of ETF strategy at WisdomTree in Europe, currency volatility has reminded investors of the risks of holding unhedged exposures.
Managing currency risk has returned to the fore, especially when investing in markets such as Japan, he says, adding: “The key for investors is to understand that when buying equities, typically they only want to access the local equity return without the complications and risks of currency movements.”
