Users of exchange traded funds have been piling into fixed income and commodity-linked exchange traded funds, according to quarterly data on the fast-growing sector by Barclays Global Investors.

In Europe, net sales of ETFs in the first seven months of 2008 were $43.6 billion, compared with net sales of European-domiciled mutual funds of $148.6 billion, based on data from research firm Lipper/Feri.

ETFs have expanded rapidly in asset volume, trading turnover and number in recent years. Listed and quoted like individual stocks, ETFs track indices of equity, bond and other markets without the investor having to own the underlying index components. Major providers of ETFs include BGI, via its iShares brand, State Street and Deutsche Bank.

At the end of the third quarter of 2008, there were 1,499 ETFs with 2,494 listings, assets of $764.08 billion, managed by 86 managers on 43 exchanges around the world.

Worldwide ETF assets under management fell by 4.1 per cent since the start of the year and the end of September, which is less than the 25.58 per cent fall in the MSCI World index in dollar terms.

Since the start of the year, the average daily trading volume in US dollar has increased by 106 per cent to $123.08 billion.

There are currently plans to launch 601 new ETFs.