Rising oil and gas prices rattled investors, raising concerns about the impact on the businesses they were invested in.

We are starting to see that impact, with Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN) doubling its jet fuel cost estimates for 2H FY26 today.

Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) chair Dr Andrew Forrest has also revealed they paid up to double for emergency fuel supplies last month.

With all this in mind, it's interesting to look at how Aussie investors repositioned their ASX ETF portfolios as the conflict unfolded.

Aussies have $329 billion invested in ASX ETFs, and last month they ploughed an additional $5.6 billion into their favoured funds.

That makes March the third-highest month for net inflows ever. It seems the volatility caused by the war did not dampen their interest.

A new report from Betashares, which shows the top 10 ASX ETFs for inflows and outflows last month, reveals some interesting trends.

Let's take a look.

Top 10 ASX ETFs for inflows last month

Top 10 ETFs for outflows

How ASX ETFs investors repositioned last month

The VAS ETF is the most popular Australian shares ETF on the market, so it's no surprise to see it take out the top spot.

VGS is the most popular international shares ETF, so it's routine to see it close to the top as well.

The presence of IHVV in the top inflows list, and its unhedged counterpart IVV ETF in the top outflows, shows investors are mindful of currency changes over the past 12 months.

The Australian dollar has risen from just over 60 US cents 12 months ago to a three-year high of 70.8 US cents today.

As James Gruber, Equity Market Strategist at CommSec, points out:

When the Australian dollar strengthens, your international ETF returns shrink, and if the Australian dollar weakens, your returns improve.

Outflows from QAU ETF reflect profit-taking amid a 21% decline in the gold price over the first three weeks of March.

Sprott Managing Partner, Paul Wong, said investors need not be worried though.

Wong added:

Gold's March drop reflects a liquidity crunch, not a breakdown in its long-term role. 

As financial stress builds, gold is likely to reassert itself as a key monetary anchor.

Another interesting trend is the inflows into non-US international ETFs, reflecting the poorer performance of US markets this year.

In the year to date, the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) has lifted just 0.6% compared to a 3% bump for the ASX 200.

The post How ASX ETF investors repositioned as the Iran war shook markets appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The simplest ones track the performance of major indexes such as the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

These are called 'passive ETFs' because they simply seek to mirror the performance of an indices, minus fees.

Active ETFs are managed by a professional team that selects the stocks in the portfolio for a higher fee.

Australians invested a net $53 billion into ASX ETFs last year, up 75% on 2024, according to Betashares data.

Given the popularity of ETFs, have you ever wondered which ones other investors are targeting?

We get a clue by looking at the full-year data recently published by the ASX.

The data shows which ETFs have the most funds under management.

This gives an indication as to which ETFs investors have had the most confidence in over the years.

Check them out.

Which ASX ETFs do investors like best?

1. Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS)

ASX VAS has $22.585 billion in funds under management. In 2025, a net $3 billion flowed in.

The VAS ETF tracks the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO), which represents the 300 largest listed companies by market capitalisation.

This includes blue-chip shares like BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd (ASX: CBA), and CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL).

2. Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS)

VGS has $14.192 billion in funds under management. The ASX VGS brought in $2.6 billion in new funds last year.

The VGS ETF tracks the MSCI World ex-Australia (with net dividends reinvested) in Australian dollars Index.

ASX VGS gives investors exposure to about 1,300 international shares across 23 nations. US shares dominate the portfolio at 74%.

3. iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV)

IVV has $13.11 billion in funds under management. The ASX IVV attracted a net inflow of $1.17 billion in 2025.

ASX IVV tracks the performance of the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX), which represents the 500 biggest listed companies in the US.

4. BetaShares Australia 200 ETF (ASX: A200)

A200 has $8.88 billion in funds under management. The ASX A200 brought in $2.1 billion in new funds last year.

The BetaShares Australia 200 ETF tracks the ASX 200.

5. VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (ASX: QUAL)

QUAL ETF has $8.07 billion in funds under management. In 2025, a net $293 million flowed in.

The QUAL ETF tracks the MSCI World ex Australia Quality Index, which encompasses 300 diversified and high-quality companies listed on exchanges in developed markets outside Australia.

The 'quality' component has a specific definition: High return on equity (ROE), earnings stability, and a healthy balance sheet.

6. iShares Core S&P/ASX 200 ETF (ASX: IOZ)

IOZ ETF has $7.798 billion in funds under management. The ASX IOZ brought in $1.1 billion in new funds last year.

The iShares Core S&P/ASX 200 ETF tracks the performance of the ASX 200 Accumulation Index.

This index tracks the ASX 200 but also takes into account the reinvestment of dividends.

7. Betashares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)

NDQ ETF has $7.69 billion in funds under management. In 2025, a net $927 million flowed in.

This ETF tracks the NASDAQ-100 Index (NASDAQ: NDX), which represents the 100 largest companies listed on the tech-heavy US NASDAQ.

8. Dimensional Australian Core Equity Trust — Active ETF (ASX: DACE)

This ASX ETF has $6.434 billion in funds under management. In 2025, DACE attracted a net inflow of $293 million.

DACE invests in a portfolio of ASX shares selected by Dimensional analysts.

9. Magellan Global Fund – Open Class Units – Active ETF (ASX: MGOC)

MGOC has $6.372 billion in funds under management. This ETF had a net outflow of $1.3 billion in 2025.

MGOC ETF invests in 20 to 40 stocks that the Magellan team considers best in their class.

10. Vanguard US Total Market Shares Index ETF (ASX: VTS)

VTS ETF has $6.361 billion in funds under management. In 2025, investors ploughed an extra $377 million net into this ETF.

The VTS ETF tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index.

This gives investors exposure to more than 3,700 US-listed companies.

The post 10 most popular ASX ETFs on the market today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Some of the most popular ETFs aren't known for their passive income because their underlying holdings don't pay much income either. ETFs act as conduits for the dividends they receive and pass them onto investors.

The two ETFs I'm going to talk about have the potential to pay solid starting yields and can also deliver capital growth because of the growing earnings of the underlying businesses.

Magellan Global Fund – Open Class Units (ASX: MGOC)

This is one of the largest ETFs on the ASX and is managed by the listed fund manager Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG).

There are a few different objectives for this ETF.

It's trying to deliver "attractive risk-adjusted returns over the medium-to-long-term, while reducing the risk of permanent capital loss."

It aims to deliver net returns of 9% per annum, net of fees, over the economic cycle. Magellan also wants investors to receive a target distribution of 4% per annum.

One of the advantages of this ASX ETF is that it invests in many of the world's best businesses and has a sizeable allocation to them.

Currently, it has a weighting of at least 4% in the following businesses: Microsoft (7.2% allocation), Amazon (7.1%), SAP (5.1%), Intercontinental Exchange (4.7%), ASML (4.5%), UnitedHealth (4.4%), Apple (4.3%), Meta Platforms (4.1%), Intuit (4%) and Netflix (4%).

I like that the fund can provide exposure to all of those great stocks while aiming for a solid yield. The MGOC ETF targets a distribution yield of 4%. Due to the fund's recent capital growth, the last two payments equate to a 3.3% distribution yield.  

Betashares FTSE 100 ETF (ASX: F100)

The global share market seems to have fallen out of love with UK stocks, which has meant plenty of quality businesses are now trading at low price-earnings (P/E) ratios.

The lower the P/E ratio, the higher the dividend yield. This helps the overall dividend yield of the UK share market, which we can access via the F100 ETF.

Many of the portfolio's biggest positions are known for their dividends. Currently, the top ten positions are Astrazeneca, Shell, HSBC, Unilever, BP, Relx, GSK, British American Tobacco, Diageo, and Rio Tinto.

In the last three years, the F100 ETF has returned an average of 11%, outperforming the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

As of 31 July 2024, the ASX ETF had a 12-month distribution yield of 3.5%. Pleasingly, the annual distribution has grown each year since 2020, though that's not guaranteed to continue.

The post 2 ASX ETFs I'd buy for dividend income appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

While there has been no news released by the company today, many investors may still be digesting Magellan's annual market review, released yesterday.

Meantime, the broader market is also up today, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rising 1.72% so far.

What's news at Magellan?

Yesterday, Magellan released its Magellan InReview 2022, providing insights and commentary on the global investment landscape today.

Magellan Global portfolio managers Nikki Thomas and Arvid Streimann described why and how inflation, income inequality, geopolitics, and climate change will dominate global economies and markets in the next year.

They point out that the efforts underway to resolve these challenges will favour quality companies.

In terms of how to navigate today's "uncertain and unbalanced world to protect capital", the pair said they remained focused "on investing in only high-quality companies that can cope with the challenges the world faces".

They wrote:

We are seeking companies that we expect to be resilient during the tightening of financial conditions and those that can benefit from such conditions. This means companies that are protected from rising and high inflation or indeed can benefit from high prices.

In terms of the portfolio, a world of rising interest rates has prompted us to scale back our holdings of energy utilities that had risen on their bond-proxy allure when rates were low.

We avoid growth (but not cash-generating) companies that are susceptible as valuations are deflated by higher discount rates and we exited those similarly vulnerable due to low cash generation now.

Our concerns about China prompted us to exit Chinese-domiciled stocks.

We added banks that are likely to enjoy higher margins as interest rates return to more normal levels.

We have added high-quality defensive companies with pricing power and minimal commodity and labour-related cost pressures.

A pushback against inequality has driven many policy changes of late in countries from China to the US that act against investment returns.

The risk for equity investors is that any lowering of the corporate profit share of national income will weigh on overall equity returns. Rising social-licence risks contributed to our decision to reduce our holding in Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META).

The top five holdings in the Magellan Global Fund (ASX: MGOC) as of 30 June are Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) 7.8%, Visa Inc (NYSE: V) 6%, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL), (NASDAQ: GOOG) 5.6%, Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) 5.1%, and McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) 4.5%.

Switching focus from rising rates to earnings resilience

Thomas and Streimann comment:

Assuming no more shocks, the dominant driver of equity market returns is likely shifting from interest rates to earnings; in particular, downgrades to earnings expectations. This is a natural sequence when higher rates slow economies.

As a result, the Magellan Global Fund is "holding a cash level moderately higher than usual".

They add:

We will seek to use this money to buy high-quality companies at great prices as we navigate the volatility induced by the uncertain backdrop.

We remain confident that the portfolio is positioned to benefit from longer-term investment thematics and secular growth tailwinds to above-GDP growth in many segments of industry.

These include digitalisation trends across our lives – in payments, in enterprise processes, in advertising, entertaining and retail spending – as well as the energy transition and electrification and rising usage of data analytics via increased computation speeds.

How are quality companies performing in the bear market?

The pair say earnings estimates for S&P 500 (INDEXSP: .INX) companies have shown resilience in 2022, especially due to the booming energy sector and commodity prices.

But they add:

European earnings could be susceptible to downgrades; Chinese earnings expectations have already been downgraded. We expect more downward pressure on earnings outlooks through the balance of this year as companies review guidance. Broad capitulation of negative earnings revisions is normally a prerequisite for a bottoming in equity markets.

As Streimann explains in the accompanying Q & A: "Quality companies tend to be defensive, which means they provide reliable earning streams. They have low leverage and high returns on capital."

He added:

Growth-focused quality companies tend to have profits further into the future than most other companies. That means their valuations are more sensitive to higher interest rates, which have gone up significantly this year. While we still consider these quality companies, this mechanical link between interest rate hikes and valuation has dragged down the overall quality index.

What else is happening at Magellan?

Yesterday, Magellan announced the official appointment to the board of its new CEO and managing director David George.

George is replacing Magellan co-founder Hamish Douglass, who will now work as a consultant to provide valuable investment insights, including geopolitical and macroeconomic views.

Douglass is expected to begin in his new role on 1 October after an extended period of personal leave.

The post What market prediction sent the Magellan share price spiking 9% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

But that's the past. What does the next year look like for Magellan in 2022?

Performance heading into 2022

The investment performance of some of Magellan's biggest funds has disappointed. For example, over the last three years the Magellan Global Fund (Open Class) (ASX: MGOC) has returned an average of 13.1% per annum over the last three years, underperforming the global benchmark by an average of almost 5% per annum.

Despite that, Magellan's funds under management (FUM) continues to rise. In November 2021, the total FUM increased by $1.6 billion to $116.4 billion. However, within that, was a mixed performance of FUM. The higher margin retail FUM dropped around $80 million to $30.23 billion, whilst the lower margin institutional FUM rose around $1.7 billion to $86.2 billion.

However, leadership changes may also be impacting investor thoughts about the business and the Magellan share price.

The company's CEO Dr Brett Cairns resigned for personal reasons. He has been replaced by the chief financial officer (CFO) by Ms Kirsten Morton to be the interim CEO. Investors also learned that Magellan's chair and chief investment officer (CIO) Hamish Douglass had separated from his wife, though they don't intend to sell any shares.

Growth avenues

Magellan points to other parts of its business, away from the main global shares strategy, that can produce FUM growth with "significant opportunities" and the combined FUM is around $30 billion.

Those five areas are: global listed infrastructure, Airlie Funds Management, sustainable and ESG strategies, the MFG Core series of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and FuturePay.

Magellan said that infrastructure has a significant runway, the Australian funds have a substantial opportunity to build a retail franchise, the ESG strategy has total capacity of around $20 billion (with only $500 million of FUM at its AGM), there is growing demand for cheaper ETF products and the FuturePay product is tapping in the huge retirement capital and the desire for reliable income.

Magellan Capital Partners is another area with the potential to create long-term growth which currently includes the sizeable investments in the businesses Barrenjoey and Guzman y Gomez.

Price targets on the Magellan share price

Different analysts have different thoughts on the company.

UBS has a sell rating on the fund manager, with a price target of $29.50. The broker is concerned about lower revenue due to potential outflows of FUM and/or cutting the fees for clients.

However, the brokers at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) think it's a buy with a price target of $38. However, the fund manager looks historically cheap to Macquarie and the dividend yield – an almost 8% partially franked yield in FY22 on the broker's numbers – is supportive for the business valuation.

The post What is the outlook for the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price in 2022? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Magellan shares fell around 4% as the business continues to drift lower.

Since the start of FY22 (being July 2021), the Magellan share price has actually fallen by around 40%.

What's happening to the Magellan share price?

Funds management businesses share prices sometimes follow the movement of the broader share market.

For example, today Magellan shares are down around 2% amid more comments from the US Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is not going to describe the current elevated inflation situation as "transitory" any more. With that in mind, the US Fed is going to slow down its purchases of assets quicker. Asset buying can be supportive of asset markets, like shares.

Investors are also coming to terms with the thought that vaccines may not be quite as effective against the new Omicron COVID-19 variant.

But that's what is happening right now. What about November and the last few months?

Funds under management (FUM) and performance difficulties

Investors, analysts and brokers pay close attention to Magellan's FUM movements. Investment fund performance also dictates whether the manager can earn performance fees.

In its update regarding the quarter to 30 September 2021, Magellan said it experienced net outflows of $1.53 billion, which was approximately 1.3% of average FUM over the quarter. This comprised net retail outflows of $617 million and net institutional outflows of $910 million. FUM movements can have an impact on the Magellan share price.

In regards to the net institutional outflows, $1 billion of outflows were the result of three clients rebalancing their portfolios across global equities ($410 million), infrastructure equities ($410 million) and Australian equities ($180 million). But, all three clients were retained, each with mandates of more than $2 billion with Magellan.

No institutional mandates were lost during that quarter. The global sustainable strategy secured its first mandates during the quarter.

In the latest monthly FUM update for October 2021, FUM increased $1.5 billion to $114.8 billion.

Some of Magellan's main funds has been underperforming its benchmark. For example, the Magellan Global Fund (Open Class) (ASX: MGOC) had underperformed the MSCI World Net Total Return Index (AUD) by 22.8% over the prior year at 31 October 2021.

Analyst thoughts on the Magellan share price

Brokers at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) currently rate Magellan as a buy, with a price target of $38.

The broker acknowledged that the fund manager now wasn't as highly valued by investors with its recent underperformance and said net flows may not improve over the rest of this financial year.

However, Macquarie thinks that Magellan shares now look attractive and offer a nice prospective dividend yield.

The Magellan share price is priced at 12x FY23's estimated earnings with an estimated partially franked dividend yield of 7.5% for that financial year.

The post The Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price dropped in November 2021. Here's what happened appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Over the past two years or so, Magellan shares have appreciated by almost 120%, turning Magellan co-founder and chief investment officer Hamish Douglass into a billionaire.

Magellan has successfully tapped into an appetite in the Australian investor for access to some of the best companies in the world outside the ASX.

Magellan's flagship Global Fund has returned an average of 15.67% per annum over the past decade. That has clearly turned heads given that this fund (across both its listed and unlisted offerings) has more than $15 billion in assets under management alone.

But Magellan has been busy in recent months. It has just completed an amalgamation of some of its listed and unlisted funds into single entities. That's why investors can now choose to buy open-ended managed fund units directly from Magellan or on the ASX, or closed-ended shares just on the ASX. As an example, the Global Fund now trades on the share market as Magellan Global Fund (ASX: MGF), as well as Magellan Global Fund Open Class (ASX: MGOC).

Magellan launches new 'Core' ETFs

But we got some more exciting news from Magellan today. The company has announced it is launching a new series of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), most of them under a new 'Core' brand. These funds aren't listed on the ASX, but rather on Chi-X, an alternative share market to the ASX in Australia.

These new funds (and ticker symbols) are as follows;

• MFG Core International Fund (CXA: MCSG)
• MFG Core ESG Fund (CXA: MCSE)
• MFG Core Infrastructure Fund (CXA: MCSI)
• Magellan Sustainable Fund (CXA: MSUF)

You might notice that the last one stands out. The Magellan Sustainable Fund is not part of this 'Core' series, but rather an actively managed fund dedicated to ethical investing. It will set investors back with a management fee of 1.35% per annum.

But turning back to this 'Core' series, the idea is that these ETFs provide a broader and less 'active' approach than Magellan's existing funds. For one, instead of Magellan's standard fee of 1.35% per annum (which applies to the Global Fund), these ETFs will only charge 0.5% per annum.

Additionally, each fund will reportedly hold between 70 and 90 companies (70 to 100 for the Infrastructure Fund). By comparison, the Global Fund aims for between 20 and 40, and Magellan's High Conviction Trust (ASX: MHH) holds just 8 to 12. The Global Fund also has the mandate to keep between 0% and 20% of its value in cash (the High Conviction Trust aims for between 0% to 50%). Meanwhile, the Core funds have a maximum of 10% cash (5% for the Infrastructure Fund), with "an aim to be fully invested".

Why this new range?

The reason for this new range? Magellan CEO Brett Cairns had this to say:

The MFG Core Series has been under development for several years and extends the successful approach that has been applied by our institutional Core Infrastructure Fund and mandates for the past 10 years. This approach actively constructs diversified portfolios of high-quality companies leveraging Magellan's research, and manages them using a proprietary process…

We believe the series provides an attractive lower cost alternative for those wishing to gain an exposure to Magellan's research and investment expertise but are not necessarily seeking our full actively managed portfolio services. We have also had considerable interest from retail investors and advisers in making our sustainable investment strategy available to the retail market in Australia.

The post Magellan (ASX:MFG) launches new ETF offerings appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.