It's been a fairly miserable middle-of-the-week session for ASX shares so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has lost 0.37% of its value and is down to around 8,218 points. But this market dip hasn't stopped a flurry of ASX exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from hitting new highs this hump day.
In fact, we have seen no fewer than seven ETFs climb to new records today.
Here they are:
| ASX ETF | Today's gain* | New record high |
| Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS) | 0.31% | $132.96 |
| Vanguard US Total Market Shares Index ETF (ASX: VTS) | 0.46% | $439.56 |
| iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV) | 0.56% | $59.49 |
| iShares Global 100 ETF (ASX: IOO) | 0.79% | $152.49 |
| BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ) | 1.35% | $46.76 |
| Global X Physical Gold ETF (ASX: GOLD) | 0.62% | $39.09 |
| Perth Mint Gold ETF (ASX: PMGOLD) | 0.81% | $42.40 |
*at the time of writing
Why are these ASX ETFs at new highs today?
You might find it strange that these ETFs are printing new records today in a session that has seen the ASX fall. Well, there's a simple explanation for this phenomenon. These ETFs fall into one of two categories. They are either funds that cover international (primarily American) markets, or they are gold ETFs.
The first five ETFs in the table above fall into the former category. Three of these ETFs – IVV, NDQ and VTS – are US-based index funds. IVV covers the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX). NDQ tracks the NASDAQ-100 Index (NASDAQ: NDX). And VTS represents the CRSP US Total Market Index.
All of these indexes represent a slice of the American stock markets. Although their underlying indexes differ, all three share the same largest holdings, namely the 'Magnificent Seven' tech stocks that we all know (and may or may not love). Those are technology giants Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple, Tesla, NVIDIA and Alphabet.
As it happens, most of these shares had a great morning of trading while most of us slept, with many approaching their own record highs. As such, it's no surprise to see the index funds that hold these stocks also perform well today.
We can tell a similar story for VGS and IOO. Although these ETFs hold stocks from many different markets, they are also dominated by American shares, including the Magnificent Seven, and thus would be benefitting from these same tailwinds.
Gold glitters on the ASX
Our final two funds are gold ETFs. Both GOLD and PMGOLD are pure-play gold funds, meaning that they are relatively simple instruments that respond to the underlying gold price.
As we covered this morning, gold hit a new all-time high last night, with futures contracts now pricing the precious metal at US$2,784.90 an ounce.
So again, it's not too surprising to see the ASX's gold ETFs follow suit this Wednesday.
