ETFs: High interest in Japanese equities

At the beginning of the month, savings plans dominate trading in index funds. Traders see additional demand for Japanese ETFs ahead of Sunday's parliamentary elections. Trading activity in gold and silver ETCs, which had previously been high, is declining somewhat.

February 10, 2026. FRANKFURT (Deutsche Börse). As usual, broadly diversified global index funds are at the top of the turnover rankings at the beginning of February. Frank Mohr of Société Générale points to the numerous savings plans that are executed at the beginning of the month. Fresh money is flowing primarily into the MSCI World ETFs from iShares and Amundi (IE00B4L5Y983 and <LU1737652237>) and the Vanguard FTSE All-World (IE00BK5BQT80). Ivo Orlemann of ICF Bank sees strong buying of the Deka MSCI World (DE000ETFL508) in this segment.

Japanese benchmark index at all-time high after election

Mohr also cites the additional demand at the beginning of the month as the main reason for the significant buying surplus and the above-average proportion of traded equity ETFs. There was also notable interest in Japanese equities in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. On Sunday, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi achieved a historic majority in the lower house (House of Representatives). This drove the Japanese benchmark index Nikkei 225 to a record high at the start of the week. Investors had mainly stocked up on Amundi Prime Japan (LU2089238385) and Xtrackers MSCI Japan ESG (IE00BG36TC12) in the run-up to the election.

For the US and Europe, traders report an almost balanced ratio between purchases and sales. The most traded products here include the Xtrackers S&P 500 Swap (LU0490618542), the iShares Nasdaq 100 (IE00B53SZB19), the Amundi Core Stoxx Europe 600 (LU0908500753), and the L&G MSCI Europe Climate Pathway (IE00BKLTRN76). The picture is similar for emerging markets. Here, the focus is primarily on the MSCI Emerging Markets funds from HSBC (IE000KCS7J59), Amundi (LU1681045370) and Invesco (IE00B3DWVS88).

Technology funds continue to be sold

In trading with sector ETFs, sales continue to predominate among the still dominant tech trackers. Mohr sees sell-offs for the Xtrackers MSCI World Information Technology (IE00BM67HT60) and the iShares Automation & Robotics (IE00BYZK4552). There is still a slight buying surplus for the Xtrackers Artificial Intelligence & Big Data (<IE00BGV5VN51). Andreas Schröer of Lang & Schwarz reports high turnover in the tech sector. “There's quite a lot going on here,” explains the trader, citing the iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector (IE00B3WJKG14) as an example.

According to Schröer, the iShares STOXX Europe 600 Food & Beverage (DE000A0H08H3) has also been on the shopping lists of many investors since Thursday evening. He cites Amazon's quarterly figures, which were published after trading hours on that day and are heavily represented in this sector index, as a possible reason. The index fund has performed relatively well over the past two weeks.