Recent market volatility may have damped demand in January for exchange-traded funds and products (ETFs/ETPs) in Canada, suggests new data from research firm ETFGI.

ETFs/ETPs listed in Canada saw net inflows of US$400 million in January. This follows a record US$2.7 billion in net new assets (NNA) in December and net inflows of US$9.2 billion for 2014.

January saw fixed income ETFs/ETPs gathering the largest share of net inflows with US$366 million, while equity ETFs/ETPs experienced the largest net outflows with US$118 million. This was followed by commodities, which recorded net outflows of US$8 million.

On a global scale, overall NNA flows were US$12.2 billion in January. Fixed income products saw a net inflow of US$13.3 billion while commodity ETFs/ETPs generated net inflows of US$5.2 billion. This resulted in both asset classes having their third-largest months on record. Equity ETFs/ETPs actually suffered net outflows of US$8.0 billion in January.

“Investors showed a strong preference for fixed income exposure during January as volatility increased,” says Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI.

The S&P 500 was down 4%, developed markets were flat, emerging markets were down slightly while frontier markets were also down by 3% in January, Fuhr notes.

In Canada, BMO AM was the significant leader in January with in net ETF/ETP inflows of US$737 million. Vanguard was second with US$180 million; followed by First Asset with US$79 million; RBC Global AM with US$51 million; and Powershares with US$41 million in net inflows.

Three providers launched six new ETFs/ETPs last month, according to preliminary data from ETFGI’s global ETF and ETP industry insights report for the end of January.

In total, the Canadian ETF industry had 347 ETFs with 490 listings and assets of US$62 billion from nine providers by the end of last month. Of those 347 products, the top 100 ETFs/ETPs account for 85.5% of Canadian ETF/ETP assets with 12 ETFs/ETPs having more than US$1 billion in assets.