(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia is climbing quickly in a ranking that tracks flows into exchange-traded funds of developing countries this year, and could soon take first position away from India.
Read more: Saudi Stocks Surge as Investors Prepare for MSCI Inclusion
New money invested in ETFs in the two nations totaled about $4.8 billion in 2019, according to a ranking compiled by Bloomberg. That’s almost twice the sum for the eight other countries in the list. Saudi Arabia had been behind China and Brazil for the past three years.
Inflows to Saudi shares are expected to keep growing as MSCI Inc. and FTSE Russell add some of the kingdom’s biggest companies to their main emerging-market benchmarks in the coming months.
Read more: Is There Really a Global Shortage of Crude Oil?
The upgrade by the two main global index compilers started in March, and is scheduled for completion next year. If the net inflows for the last three months are considered alone, Saudi Arabia already appears on top of the ranking, with India following.
The London-traded Invesco MSCI Saudi Arabia UCITS ETF, the largest ETF tracking Saudi shares, had net inflows of near $910 million in May, the most for a month since its inception last year, boosting its net for the year to $1.4 billion.
In India, the R*shares CPSE ETF alone registered net flows of $1.5 billion this year, the most for a single ETF tracking the nation’s assets. The fund is an instrument used to facilitate the government’s initiative to divest some of its stakes in some companies.
