Asia Dominates as Tech Leads Weekly ETF Flows

China and Taiwan pulled in a combined $18.3B this week. That is the clearest signal in the ETF flow data: institutional money is rotating hard into Asian markets, with a record-breaking backdrop lending weight to the move.

Taiwan's September export orders hit $114.2B, the largest September reading since records began in 1984, according to export order data measured by ORTEX. The prior record was $70.3B, set just one year earlier. ETF investors appear to have noticed. Taiwan-focused funds attracted $3.6B in the past week, a flow imbalance score of 95.3, meaning almost all the money moving was going in, not out. Over three months, Taiwan has gathered $18.2B, making it the third-largest geographic destination globally.

Geography Flows

The U.S. remained the top destination by volume, pulling in $17.7B over the week. But the flow imbalance of 60.2 tells a more moderate story. China's $14.8B weekly inflow carried a far stronger conviction reading, with a flow imbalance of 77.8. South Korea added $7.3B (imbalance: 89.2) and Japan took in $4.5B.

The contrast with the three-month picture is sharp for Japan. Over the past quarter, Japan has seen a net outflow of $7.0B, even as weekly flows turned positive. That reversal is worth watching. Over three months, the U.S. still dominates with $300.7B of net inflows, but China ($27.5B) and Global Ex-U.S. ($27.9B) are running well behind.

North America excluding the U.S. sits in mild net outflow on the week at $763M. India also leaked $41.6M this week, extending a weak three-month trend of $1.2B in net selling.

Sector Rotation

Information Technology was the week's standout sector. It drew $11.1B of net inflows, a flow imbalance of 73.1. Over three months the same category leads all sectors at $18.1B, though with a much thinner imbalance of 53.5, suggesting the weekly rush is a step-up in pace rather than a continuation of steady buying.

The reversals are more telling. Financials bled $838M this week after losing $9.6B over three months. That is the largest sectoral outflow by a wide margin over the quarter. Industrials and Consumer Discretionary also saw net selling on the week, $594M and $725M respectively. Utilities lost $457M in the past seven days, even though the three-month trend shows $2.5B of inflows. That is a clean reversal: defensive positioning that built over the summer is now being unwound.

Health Care attracted $454M on the week and $4.0B over three months, making it a consistent secondary destination for institutional money alongside Tech.

Asset Class and Strategy

Equities pulled in $57.3B on the week. Fixed income added $15.7B. Both show healthy buying pressure, which points to a broadly risk-on tone rather than a flight to safety.

Commodities posted a small net outflow of $526M this week, despite three months of solid $34.3B inflows. Alternatives also flipped to a $1.3B outflow. Both suggest some trimming of defensive hedges.

On the strategy side, active funds drew $2.2B on the week and $161.3B over three months. That three-month figure is nearly 70% of the vanilla passive flow in proportional terms, a sign that the shift toward active ETF strategies continues at pace. Value and Growth both saw inflows this week. Momentum strategies sit in outflow on both timeframes.

The overall picture is risk-on with a strong regional tilt. Passive and active equity money is moving together, Tech is back in favour, and the week's clearest trade was buying Asia.