A new report from the Betashares team has revealed ASX ETF trends during the turbulent month of March.
Investors poured into oil focussed equities during the month of March.
Meanwhile, bear focussed ASX ETFs also outperformed.
"Bear-focused" ETFs are designed to profit when markets fall (or to hedge against downturns).
Image source: Getty Images
March overview
The Betashares Australian ETF review revealed that in a month dominated by the outbreak of conflict in Iran, the Australian ETF industry recorded very strong net inflows of $5.6 billion.
Despite this, market movements pushed funds under management down by $13.8 billion to $329.4 billion.
According to Tom Wickenden, Investment Strategist, the short-term threat from the Iran war is the oil price spike's impact on growth and inflation.
But the longer-term implications may matter most for investors, long after any resolution.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine accelerated defence spending and European energy diversification. The Iran conflict is now doing the same for global energy self sufficiency, while fracturing the US security umbrella and embedding geopolitics as a structural driver of asset prices rather than an episodic risk to be faded.
Mr Wickenden explained that as a response, investor flows have picked up in select hedges:
- Energy producers
- Uranium
- Defence
- Critical minerals
- Agricultural commodities.
March also saw a second-rate hike from the RBA in 2026.
For Australian equities this reinforces three key trends: the rotation toward income and value factors, pressure on rate sensitive sectors, and the same commodity shock that has complicated the RBA's path is generating meaningful earnings improvements for Australian energy and material companies.
Best performing ASX ETFs in March
According to Betashares, March's top performers were dominated by defensive and counter-cyclical exposures.
This came as a sharp rally in crude oil lifted commodity focused funds while equity bear funds surged on the back of significant market volatility and risk-off sentiment.
The best performing ASX ETFs in March were:
- BetaShares Crude Oil Index ETF – Currency Hedged (Synthetic) (ASX: OOO) rose 55.9%
- BetaShares Australian Equities Strong Bear Hedge Fund (ASX: BBOZ) rose 19.33%
- Betashares Ethereum ETF (ASX: QETH) rose 13.33%
- Betashares US Equities Strong Bear Currency Hedged Complex ETF (ASX: BBUS) rose 12.3%
- Global X Ultra Short Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (ASX: SNAS) rose 11.94%.
The Betashares Crude Oil Index ETF led the way in March.
The fund aims to track the performance of an index (before fees and expenses) that provides exposure to crude oil futures, hedged for currency movements in the AUD/USD exchange rate.
It benefited as oil prices surged following the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.
