The S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.6%, the EURO STOXX 50 declined 0.9% and the Nikkei dropped 2.8% last week. The S&P 500 posted a small gain. Gold, gold mining and Australian dollar ETFs topped the performance tables for the week. US dollar and Australian resource sector ETFs were the poorest performers.
Gold rose 2.6% in US dollar terms and silver gained 3.5%. Two gold mining ETFs, MNRS and GDX, added 4.4% and 3.7% respectively.
In currency markets, the US Dollar Index declined for a fourth consecutive week, reaching a 2 month low. The Australian dollar rallied 1.7% edging back towards US 77c. The euro gained 0.8% and the Japanese yen gained 2.2%, pushing the Nikkei lower.
The Australian ETF market saw inflows of A$162m and outflows of A$3m from domestically domiciled ETFs. The largest inflows were broad-based Australian equity funds including Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (VAS) and ANZ ETFS S&P/ASX 100 ETF (ZOZI).
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