Assets directly linked to S&P indices declined in to $906bn in 2002, down –14.9% on the $1,064bn estimated for the previous year. The index provider conducts an industry survey to get the figures, but reckons some 90% of its indexed assets market share was captured.
The bulk was indexed to the S&P500 index, where the assets declined to $841bn from $1,013bn in 2001, a decrease of 17%, which was less than the market fall of 23%. The cash inflow is attributed to the growth in the ETF assets and other indexed and enhanced index assets into products based on the S&P. The S&P 500 ETF assets increased by 39%.
But other indices were in demand, particularly the S&P SmallCap 600 index, which showed a gain of 120% in ETF, with some $19bn of assets indexed, up 44% on the year.
The S&P Midcap 400 saw an increase of 22% in assets to just over $46bn.
Standard & Poor’s said that while the US market, as measured by the S&P 500, declined by 23% in the year, S&P 500-based ETF and indexed/enhan-ced assets fell by “just” 17%, to $840.9bn.
“This growth is in large part attributable to the sizeable increase of ETF assets tracking all three of our US indices and the increasing market share of our mid-cap and small-cap offerings,” says S&P.
S&P contacted several hundred asset managers and plan sponsors as part of the annual survey on assets directly linked to its indices. As at the end of 2002, Barclays Global Investors was the leading manager of S&P indexed assets.