The world’s market for exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products continued to enjoy net inflows last month, according to research and consultancy firm ETFGI.

Globally listed exchange-traded funds and products attracted $10.8 billion in net new assets in February, according to new data from ETFGI.

The sector has now experienced net inflows for 25 consecutive months. Record levels of net new assets in January and February were gathered by ETFs/ETPs listed in Asia-Pacific ex Japan, at $6.41 billion, and by Japan-listed ETFs/ETPs, at $9.24 billion year-to-date.

Last month, fixed income ETFs/ETPs generated the largest net inflows with $13.64 billion, followed by commodity ETFs/ETPs with $8.89 billion. Equity ETFs/ETPs saw net outflows of $12.95 billion.

“February was another volatile month for equity markets which drove investors to invest net flows into government bonds and gold. The S&P 500 closed the month down 0.13 per cent. Despite recent uncertainty, emerging markets gained 0.31 per cent in February, while developed markets outside of the US declined 1 per cent,” said Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI.

US investment giant Vanguard enjoyed the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in February with $4.18 billion, followed by BlackRock's iShares with $3.1 billion, and Japan's Nomura Asset Management with $1.49 billion.

The firm's latest figures show the global ETF/ETP industry has 6,200 ETFs/ETPs, with 11,963 listings, assets of $2.85 trillion, from 279 providers listed on 64 exchanges across 51 countries.