The CSI 300 Index, the ChiNext Index, and the CSI A500 Index were collectively loaded up, while bond ETFs faced redemptions in the tens of billions of yuan.
Amid a double hit to both stocks and bonds, October drew to a close.
On October 30, the A-share market saw a clear adjustment, yet ETFs saw buying accelerate as prices fell, with the entire market recording a net inflow of 14.055 billion yuan, of which equity ETFs drew a net inflow of 26.988 billion yuan, as capital rushed to use ETFs to position during the pullback, with broad-based products serving as the absolute main force.
At the same time, the bond market was affected by credit concerns surrounding local state-owned enterprises, with bond ETFs seeing a single-day net outflow of nearly 12.7 billion yuan. The central bank responded rapidly by injecting liquidity into the market, and several fund companies believe the current shock to the bond market is far weaker than the negative feedback loop from wealth management redemptions seen in 2022.
The more it fell, the more they bought, with broad-based ETFs taking up the banner of attracting capital
On October 30, the structure of fund flows across the entire ETF market showed obvious divergence. Equity ETFs recorded a single-day net inflow of as much as 26.988 billion yuan, with broad-based ETFs alone capturing 25.233 billion yuan, accounting for 93.5% of the total. Notably, broad-based ETFs also posted the largest decline that day, falling 2.7%. Faced with a broad market selloff, large capital decisively entered through broad-based ETFs to support the market and accumulate positions. By contrast, more granular segments appeared quiet. Equity thematic ETFs saw a single-day net outflow of 104 million yuan and fell 2.79%; equity sector ETFs drew a net inflow of only 303 million yuan, remaining on the sidelines; equity strategy ETFs were the only category among equity funds to close higher, edging up 0.33% with a net inflow of 1.533 billion yuan, once again demonstrating the safe-haven effect of dividend and low-volatility strategies in a volatile market.
At the same time, funds staged a major retreat from the bond market. Bond ETFs saw a net outflow of 12.674 billion yuan, with their scale dropping to 1.09 trillion yuan. Cross-border ETFs saw an outflow of 320 million yuan, commodity ETFs an outflow of 135 million yuan, and money market ETFs a slight inflow of 197 million yuan.
Looking at individual products, Wind data showed that on October 30, the top 20 ETFs by net fund inflow across the market attracted more than 23 billion yuan in total, and nearly all of them were equity funds. Among them, Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF topped the list with a net inflow of 5.672 billion yuan; E Fund ChiNext ETF followed closely with 3.999 billion yuan despite falling 3.94% that day; ChinaAMC SSE STAR 50 ETF fell 5.03% that day yet still drew a net inflow of 2.848 billion yuan. The grouping of broad-based products onto the list became a striking feature. CSI A500 ETFs once again became the market's brightest stars, with CSI A500 ETFs under E Fund, ChinaAMC, Guotai, Harvest, and Southern Asset Management entering the top 20, drawing a combined net inflow of about 3.26 billion yuan. Dividend-focused ETFs were among the few gainers on the list, with Huatai-PineBridge Dividend Low Volatility ETF, E Fund CSI Dividend ETF, and Huatai-PineBridge SSE Dividend ETF each drawing net inflows of more than 400 million yuan that day.
Core products from leading firms such as E Fund, ChinaAMC, and Southern Asset Management drew capital additions
At E Fund, as of October 30, its latest ETF scale reached 676.82 billion yuan. Among its products, E Fund ChiNext ETF had a scale of 92.321 billion yuan and a single-day net inflow of 3.999 billion yuan; E Fund CSI 300 ETF had a scale of 89.414 billion yuan and a net inflow of 1.355 billion yuan; E Fund A500 ETF had a scale of 28.930 billion yuan and a net inflow of 1.059 billion yuan; E Fund Dividend ETF had a scale of 20.543 billion yuan and a net inflow of 476 million yuan; and E Fund STAR 50 ETF had a scale of 37.661 billion yuan and a net inflow of 420 million yuan.
At ChinaAMC, ChinaAMC STAR 50 ETF and ChinaAMC A500 ETF led in single-day net inflows, drawing 2.848 billion yuan and 750 million yuan respectively, with the latest scales reaching 110.505 billion yuan and 17.474 billion yuan, corresponding to average daily turnover of 9.831 billion yuan and 1.222 billion yuan respectively for their tracked indices over the past month. In addition, ChinaAMC ChiNext Growth ETF, ChinaAMC CSI 300 ETF, and ChinaAMC ChiNext ETF each saw net inflows of more than 100 million yuan.
The three major broad-based ETFs under Southern Asset Management also posted strong net inflows. Southern CSI A500 ETF saw a single-day net inflow of 389 million yuan, a cumulative net inflow of 3.047 billion yuan over the past five days and 3.975 billion yuan over the past month, with its current scale at 31.980 billion yuan; Southern CSI 1000 ETF saw a single-day net inflow of 560 million yuan, a cumulative net inflow of 1.491 billion yuan over the past five days and 12.134 billion yuan over the past month, with its current scale at 28.685 billion yuan; and Southern CSI 500 ETF saw a single-day net inflow of 674 million yuan and a net inflow of 8.583 billion yuan over the past month, with its current scale at 43.411 billion yuan.
The impact of the overseas technology sector on A-shares is more sentiment-driven, with attention advised on domestic corporate growth and policy drivers
The recent oversold condition in A-shares was mainly driven by an adjustment in the overseas technology sector. Wu Haijian, a fund manager at Western Leadbank Fund Management, told reporters that the domestic market has formed strong independent logic at the levels of macroeconomic policy, capital structure, industrial landscape, and corporate operations. The phased adjustment of overseas technology companies is likely to have only limited spillover effects on A-shares, with the sentiment impact outweighing the fundamental shock, and investors are advised to focus more on factors related to China's own growth and policy drivers.
Recently, a number of fund companies have also clearly expressed confidence in the medium- to long-term value of A-shares from multiple perspectives including macroeconomics, capital flows, and valuations. Li Zhan, chief economist at China Merchants Fund, said that capital market reform continues to deliver results, and he is bullish on Chinese assets. He cited data as evidence: medium- and long-term funds such as social security, annuities, and insurance made net purchases of more than 600 billion yuan in A-shares during the year, with their holdings of tradable market value rising 12.5% from the end of 2025; dividends and buybacks during the year reached 2.1 trillion yuan, 2.7 times equity financing over the same period. On valuations, as of October 23, the price-to-earnings ratio (TTM) of the CSI 300 Index was 12.87 times, at the 52nd percentile of the past decade, with a dividend yield of 2.81%; the equity risk premium of the CSI 300 had risen to 6.2%. On fundamentals, net profit of listed companies in the first half grew 19.5% year on year, a nearly three-year high. "The recent pressure on A-shares is mainly due to phased liquidity constraints, not substantive changes in economic fundamentals. In the first three quarters of this year, nominal GDP growth rebounded to above 5%, and as short-term influencing factors are gradually digested, listed companies' fundamentals are expected to once again dominate market pricing," said Yang Jinghan, a fund manager at Huatai-PineBridge.
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