Brexit is a muddle, U.K. shares are the world’s most shunned and, to top it off, the FTSE 100 Index just suffered its worst week in a year. Yet the biggest British stock ETF is flying high.
BlackRock Inc.’s iShares Core FTSE 100 fund took in 825 million pounds ($1 billion) in September, the highest monthly total in its 19-year history, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors continued to add cash last week even as a global growth scare sparked a 3.7% sell-off in U.K. stocks.
What’s going on? While the inflows reflect bets on a weaker currency boosting British multi-nationals, they’re also part of broader message from investors: Active mutual funds are out, and more liquid, easy-to-sell exchange-traded products are very much in.
“This is about a shift into ETFs and an even greater fall in active exposure,” said Edward Park, deputy chief investment officer at Brooks Macdonald Asset Management. “For those looking for cheap exposure to the multi-national exporters, the FTSE 100 ETF is a way to get rapid exposure with plenty of liquidity.”
Even as the U.K. barrels toward its planned divorce from the European Union on Oct. 31 and money managers treat the country as uninvestable, BlackRock’s 7.6 billion pound fund has never been so flush with assets.
By contrast, investors have pulled $4.9 billion from U.K.-focused equity mutual funds since June, according to data provided by EPFR. About a third of investors are underweight U.K. stocks, the highest share for any market in the world, according to the latest Bank of America Corp. Survey
That’s been a boon to BlackRock’s passive product.
Active equity funds are heavily positioned in small- and mid-cap domestic companies, according to Park. These firms are seen as vulnerable not only to a weaker pound but also to the types of liquidity scares suffered by star manager Neil Woodford’s flagship fund.
“Small and mid-cap U.K. equities are significantly more difficult to trade in large volumes,” said Park. “As a result investors, are selling some of their active U.K. fund exposure fearing market pressure around Oct. 31, which would be exacerbated by lower liquidity.”
Pound Weakness