ChinaAMC CSI300 ETF has become the largest ETF among all Chinese issuers. The total assets of the ETF reached 12.86 billion yuan (US$1.82 billion) on August 19, slightly more than the CSOP FTSE A50 ETF’s 12.85 billion yuan. This is the first time that the ChinaAMC CSI300 ETF has surpassed the latter since these two ETFs were launched in Hong Kong in 2012.

Meanwhile, ChinaAMC CSI300 ETF remains the largest global (ex-China) CSI300 ETF in the world.

The A-shares market has been experiencing high volatility in 2019, yet it is still the best performing market in Asia-Pacific, with the CSI300 Index having shot up by almost 26% and the A50 Index up by 29%. Despite the outperformance, A-shares ETFs have suffered a net outflow in Q2 due to the escalated China-US trade conflict.

According to Bloomberg data, the year-to-date total net outflow of the two FTSE A50 ETFs was over US$2.2 billion (equally split among the two); for the ChinaAMC CSI300 ETF, it was US$252 million over the same period.

With the inclusion of A-shares into major global stock indices including MSCI, FTSE, and S&P, global investors are now beginning to add A-shares into their portfolio for longer term allocation.

Due to its broader base stock coverage, diversified sector exposure, as well as the 0.996 correlation with the inclusion constituents, the CSI300 Index is becoming “the benchmark” for these asset allocators.

On the other hand, China’s growing economy is highly driven by the so-called growth sectors such as consumer, healthcare, insurance, and information technology. A lot of the leaders in these growth sectors are effectively captured by the CSI300 Index, which includes the top 300 stocks on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The world is now recognizing the CSI300 as the China version of S&P500, which has become indispensable for representing the world’s second-largest stock market.

Meanwhile in onshore China, the two largest CSI300 ETFs belong to Huatai-Pinebridge and ChinaAMC, which have 36.59 billion yuan and 27 billion yuan, respectively. Both have seen outflows caused by the recent sell-off in the domestic market. Huatai-PB CSI300 ETF was down by US$1 billion while ChinaAMC CSI300 ETF was down US$220 million.