With investors increasingly turning to thematic funds, research by HANetf revealed that midstream energy and aviation were two of its top performing themes, while investors were most bullish on blockchain and clean energy.
According to independent exchange-traded fund (ETF) specialist HANetf’s thematic review for the first four months of 2022, 98.3% of professional investors have at least 5% exposure to thematic funds in their portfolio, while 73.3% have at least 15% exposure. Perhaps, more importantly, 90% of respondents indicated that they expect to increase their exposure to thematic funds over the next year, with 95% reporting increased interest from clients.
The survey revealed that 26.7% of the respondents are most bullish on blockchain, decentralised finance and the overall crypto economy. Another 25% identified clean and renewable energy as a hot investment opportunity.
A further 15% of respondents are feeling most positive about ecommerce, while 8.3% named cloud computing. Healthcare tech and the space economy both scored 6.7% and the travel and medical cannabis themes came in at 5%. Respondents were least bullish on electric vehicles, with just 1.7% feeling positive about the theme.
Best performing theme: Midstream energy
Data taken from Bloomberg and aggregated by HANetf shows that midstream energy was the best performing theme in the first four months of the year, with the Alerian Midstream Energy Dividend UCITS ETF [MMLP] delivering a return of more than 18%. This was fuelled by oil and gas prices soaring due to the war in Ukraine, strong demand for liquified natural gas exports and below-average inventories. It has also been helped by midstream energy companies increasingly becoming more ESG-focused.
“The price jump is particularly notable given that April is normally the time of the year when natural gas prices are moderate due to lower demand,” noted the report.
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