Amid a rebound in overseas markets, China's A-share market saw a broad-based rally yesterday. However, stock exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced profit-taking activities, with outflows accelerating as prices rose.

According to data from China Galaxy Securities Fund Research Center, on March 5, the entire stock ETF market, including cross-border ETFs, recorded a net outflow of 258.96 billion yuan. Among these, A-share stock ETFs witnessed a net outflow of 217.94 billion yuan. This marks the largest single-day net outflow in the stock ETF market since February this year.

In terms of outflow directions, several broad-based ETFs saw outflows amounting to tens of billions of yuan on March 5, becoming the primary contributors to the net redemptions in stock ETFs.

On March 5, Chinese stocks experienced a significant rebound following the U.S.-Iran conflict, with the three major indices all closing higher. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.64%, successfully reclaiming the 4,100-point mark.

However, as the market halted its decline and turned upward, stock ETFs, often seen as a contrarian indicator, again saw net redemptions, indicating a clear preference among investors to lock in gains.

Data from China Galaxy Securities Fund Research Center shows that as of March 5, the total assets under management for the 1,347 stock ETFs, including cross-border ETFs, reached 3.78 trillion yuan. During yesterday's market rebound, the stock ETF market recorded a net outflow of 258.96 billion yuan. This is not only the second occurrence of a net outflow exceeding 200 billion yuan since February 26 but also the largest single-day net outflow in the stock ETF market since February this year.

Categorized by type, commodity ETFs and bond ETFs led in net inflows, reaching 30.82 billion yuan and 5.94 billion yuan, respectively. Broad-based ETFs led net outflows, shedding 191.36 billion yuan. In terms of size changes, sector-themed ETFs saw an increase of 86.05 billion yuan in assets.

At the index level, ETFs tracking the SGE Gold 9999 Index saw the highest single-day net inflows, reaching 25.82 billion yuan. Conversely, ETFs tracking the CSI 500 Index experienced the largest single-day net outflows, totaling 36.53 billion yuan. Over the past five trading days, funds flowing into ETFs tracking the SGE Gold 9999 Index exceeded 98 billion yuan, while inflows into ETFs tracking the oil and gas industry surpassed 90 billion yuan.

Despite the substantial net outflows from the overall stock ETF market, some ETFs under major fund companies still attracted capital against the trend.

Data indicates that E Fund Management's ETF assets reached 631.53 billion yuan, with an increase of 1.10 billion yuan yesterday. Specifically, E Fund Gold ETF saw assets of 47.005 billion yuan and a net inflow of 616 million yuan; E Fund CSI 500 ETF had assets of 28.055 billion yuan with a net inflow of 332 million yuan; E Fund Grid Equipment ETF, with assets of 667 million yuan, attracted a net inflow of 160 million yuan; E Fund Value ETF, managing 2.221 billion yuan, saw a net inflow of 98 million yuan; and E Fund Dividend ETF, with assets of 11.719 billion yuan, recorded a net inflow of 82 million yuan.

Regarding ChinaAMC's ETFs, the Grid Equipment ETF saw a net inflow of 1.427 billion yuan, pushing its total assets past the 30 billion yuan mark to 30.21 billion yuan. The Nonferrous Metals ETF attracted a net inflow of 225 million yuan, while both ChinaAMC Gold ETF and Free Cash Flow ETF saw net inflows exceeding 100 million yuan.

Seventeen ETFs under GF Fund Management experienced net purchases. Among them, the Rare Metals ETF received the highest net buying, reaching 600 million yuan, and has seen consecutive days of strong inflows, with its latest size exceeding 6.8 billion yuan. The largest Construction Machinery ETF by size in its category saw a net inflow of over 200 million yuan yesterday, with assets surpassing 3.2 billion yuan. Larger, more liquid products like the Power ETF and the Hong Kong Stock Connect Innovative Pharma ETF both recorded net purchases exceeding 100 million yuan, and are the largest ETFs tracking their respective indices. Popular products such as GF CSI 1000 ETF, Shanghai Gold ETF, Media ETF, HK Stock Connect Tech ETF, and HK Stock Connect Non-Bank Financial ETF were actively traded, with daily turnover each exceeding 500 million yuan.

Looking at individual product flows, grid equipment ETFs and resource-focused ETFs like oil & gas and gold attracted investor favor, ranking high on the list of ETF net inflows.

Wind data shows that among all non-monetary market ETFs on March 5, only two saw net inflows exceeding 10 billion yuan: ChinaAMC Grid Equipment ETF and Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF, with net inflows of 14.27 billion yuan and 11.88 billion yuan, respectively.

Industry insiders pointed out that recently, three major U.S. regional grid operators—Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), PJM Interconnection in the Mid-Atlantic region, and Southwest Power Pool (SPP)—have successively approved transmission expansion projects totaling $75 billion. While the U.S. has substantial funding, it lacks sufficient domestic supply chain capacity, presenting an opportunity for Chinese grid equipment exports. This is a core factor driving recent capital inflows into grid equipment ETFs.

Several oil & gas and gold ETFs also ranked among the top ten non-monetary market ETFs by net inflows. Among them, Hua An Gold ETF saw a net inflow of over 900 million yuan, E Fund Gold ETF attracted over 600 million yuan, while Bosera Gold ETF and Invesco Great Wall Oil & Gas ETF each saw net inflows exceeding 400 million yuan. Guotai Gold ETF recorded a net inflow of over 300 million yuan.

Hua An Fund believes that rising geopolitical risks coupled with supply-side disruptions are providing multiple catalysts for the nonferrous metals sector. Escalating geopolitical tensions, a natural catalyst for gold, have seen the U.S.-Iran conflict shift from an "anticipated risk" to "substantive military confrontation," triggering a concentrated outbreak of market避险 sentiment. Historical experience shows that major conflicts in the Middle East often strongly catalyze gold prices; during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 1979 Iranian Revolution, gold prices saw multi-fold increases. From a perspective of major power competition, the revaluation of strategic resources is an inevitable trend, with gold becoming a strategic pivot against geopolitical friction, "de-globalization" trends, and potential inflationary pressures. Simultaneously, prices for industrial metals like silver, copper, and aluminum are also rising, accelerating the release of resource commodities' financial attributes.

In terms of net outflow directions, multiple broad-based ETFs again formed the main camp for outflows. Among them, China Southern CSI 500 ETF saw a net outflow exceeding 30 billion yuan, E Fund ChiNext ETF experienced outflows over 20 billion yuan, while China Southern CSI 1000 ETF, Huatai-PineBridge沪深300ETF, and ChinaAMC STAR 50 ETF all recorded net outflows exceeding 15 billion yuan.