etfSA Monthly ETF / Index Tracking Unit Trust Performance survey

The latest Performance Survey shows a dramatic recovery in the DBX (Deutsche Bank) ETF Funds, which track the major global markets, for the first month of 2011. These products reflect some improvement in offshore equity markets to date in 2011, but they mainly owe their stand-out performance to the weakening of the rand against major currencies.

1 Year Returns

The Satrix INDI 25 ETF, was the best performing fund over 12 months, with a 26,2% total return over the period. It was closely followed by the NewFunds eRAFI Industrial 25 ETF fund, indicating that industrial share indices, which have no exposure to the volatile financial or resources sectors, are not only low risk, but have also provided superior returns in recent market conditions. The Satrix DIVI Plus ETF, which contains a portfolio of largely industrial and retail sector shares, was also a stand-out performer (25,8%) over the past year.

3 - 5 Year Returns

The Satrix INDI 25 ETF maintained its pre-eminent position as the best performing ETF or index tracker unit trust fund over the past five years, with a total return of 15,2% per annum over this period. It is also one of the better performers over the three year period.

The Prudential Enhanced Property Tracker Unit Trust follows the Satrix Indi closely over the 5 year period and has a higher performance over the 3 year period (14,9% p.a.). The Proptrax ETF fund (14,3% p.a.), which holds the entire SAPY index of 16 listed property stocks as prescribed by the FTSE/JSE index constituent weightings, and does not seek to outperform the index, closely shadows the performance of the Prudential Enhanced Index fund, but with a lower risk factor.

However, the Satrix DIVI Plus ETF has the outstanding total return (18,4% p.a.) over the last 3 years, indicating the clear JSE focus on high dividend paying shares in the absence of comparable interest rate returns in the money and capital markets.

The full etfSA Performance Survey is attached. The etfSA Performance Survey measures the total return (price changes plus reinvestment of dividends) for index tracking unit trusts and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) available to the retail public in South Africa. The performance table (attached) measures the 1 month to 5 years total return compared with the benchmark index returns (including reinvestment of dividends). Note, as the FTSE/JSE calculates the index without taking into account any brokerage or other transaction costs, index tracking products will typically underperform the index because of their transaction and other running costs.