March 2016 – etfSA.co.za monthly South African ETF, ETN and Unit Trust passive index tracking performance survey

Mike Brown, Managing Director, etfSA.co.za.

The Performance Survey for the period ended 31st March 2016, is attached. The Survey measures total investment returns for all 71 JSE listed ETFs/ETNs, and 24 index tracking unit trusts for periods of 3 months to 10 years. The summary table of the best performing passive index tracking products is shown below and details of each individual fund’s performance is attached.

The sharp rise-up in the prices of mining and other resource shares in recent months has had a big impact on the NewFunds S&P GIVI Resources ETF, which uses an intrinsic valuation method to select shares in its index. By down-weighting mining house shares and increasing the weighting to gold and individual resources, this product has been able to significantly outperform the FTSE/JSE Resources index. However, the more recent data (for one month) indicates that this might come to an end.

Summary table

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The etfSA Performance Survey measures the total return (Net Asset Value (NAV to NAV)) changes including reinvestment of dividends) for index tracking unit trusts and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) available to the retail public in South Africa. The performance tables measure the 1 month to 10 years total return for a lump sum investment compared with the benchmark index returns (including reinvestment of dividends). All indices are shown in total return format. Note, as the FTSE/JSE calculates the index without taking into account any brokerage or other transaction costs, index tracking products will typically slightly underperform the index because of their transaction and other running costs.

Please Note: future investment performance will not necessarily replicate historic performance data. All data used in the Survey is sourced from Profile Media, who obtain daily data from all index tracker product issuers.