Five ETFs which saw demand soar in Q1...and five which didn't

ETF flow data from iShares reveals investors have been selling equities and buying bonds in the first quarter of the year, with the five top-selling ETFs all belonging to the fixed income space.

The five funds with the largest outflows, by contrast, were all equity funds, suggesting investors have been taking stock of their positions following a runaway year for the asset class in 2013. The ETF that lost the most money over the quarter was iShares MSCI Japan ETF, which saw $490m (£293m) in net outflows. The redemptions came amid sharp falls for Japanese equities: the Nikkei dropped 9% in Q1, raising questions over both the prognosis for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s stimulus programme and the consensus ‘overweight Japan’ trade which dominated last year. Equity product outflo...