Investors in low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs) should be well pleased as these funds have shown strong returns for 2006.
Satrix, the joint venture between the JSE, Gensec and Deutsche Bank, now has five ETFs and three have a history as collective investments of more than a year.
The Satrix 40, a portfolio of key blue-chip shares listed on the JSE that tracks the FTSE/JSE Top 40 index, is the top-performing fund in the large cap unit trust sub-category. The Satrix 40 returned 40.31 percent for the year to the end of December 2006 (according to ProfileData).
The Satrix Indi is a portfolio of industrial company shares and tracks the FTSE/JSE Industrial 25 index. It was the fifth best performing fund among the 10 funds in the industrial fund sub-category and returned 40.36 percent for the year to the end of December 2006.
The Satrix Fini is a portfolio of financial company shares and tracks the FTSE/JSE Financial index. Over the year to the end of 2006, this fund returned 36.01 percent and was placed second out of nine funds in the financial fund sub-category.
The JSE and Deutsche Bank are also involved in a joint venture called Itrix, which has launched two ETFs that track foreign indices. These two funds are the leaders over one year in the foreign general equity fund sector. The Itrix DJ Euro Stoxx 50 tracks the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index with the 50 most liquid stocks in the Eurozone, while the Itrix FTSE 100 tracks the UK FTSE 100 index with the largest 100 shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. These funds returned 44.65 percent and 41 percent for the year to the end of December 2006 and out-performed all actively managed funds in the foreign general equity sub-category.
None of the Satrix funds has a three-year track record.