200 billion yuan in funds "buying the dip" in broad-based ETFs are favored, and the A500 ETF's end-of-quarter scale battle is heating up.

On March 23, the A-share market experienced a strong rebound after a short-term sharp decline, with the core indices turning positive across the board and a resurgence of stocks hitting daily limit-ups. Market funds acted decisively as panic spread, with the entire market ETF net inflow reaching 19.4 billion yuan in a single day. Broad-based ETFs were the main recipients, with a net inflow of 22.3 billion yuan, style strategy ETFs saw a net inflow of 7 billion yuan, while industry and thematic ETFs showed net outflows.

In terms of fund flow, Huatai-Pbree’s CSI 300 ETF led the broad-based camp with a net inflow of 3.784 billion yuan. The Guofu and Huaxia SSE 50 ETFs attracted 1.82 billion yuan and 1.58 billion yuan respectively. The CSI 1000 ETF by Southern and Huaxia’s STAR Market 50 ETF and ChiNext ETF each saw net inflows exceeding 1 billion yuan, forming a multi-layered broad-based ETF support pattern. In the industry and thematic sectors, the Guotai Securities ETF had a net inflow of 600 million yuan, and the Hang Seng Tech ETF by Huatai-Pbree had a similar net inflow, indicating continued enthusiasm for Hong Kong stock allocations.

Contrasting with the inflows, ETF trading data revealed different signals. The A500 ETF became the main trading volume leader of the day, with Huatai-Pbree, Huaxia, Southern, and Guotai funds each recording daily trading volumes over 6 billion yuan, with Huatai-Pbree’s A500 ETF leading the market at 7.401 billion yuan. This high trading activity sharply contrasts with the CSI 300 ETF, which had a daily trading volume of 3.784 billion yuan—almost halving from the previous day’s 6.799 billion yuan—indicating that large funds have not yet shown significant entry signals.

The market remains highly attentive to the “national team” movements. Dongfanghong Asset Management noted that the operation mechanism of stabilization funds has become more mature. The January fund repurchase was mainly a market overheating adjustment, and under current abnormal volatility, its stabilizing function may re-emerge. However, many public fund professionals believe that during this correction, A-shares declined less than external markets like Japan and Korea, and the SSE 300 dividend yield rose to 2.8%, with the spread over the 10-year government bond yield widening, demonstrating strong market resilience. The need for large-scale stabilization fund intervention appears reduced.

The competition for the A500 ETF scale continues to intensify. As of March 23, Huatai-Pbree’s A500 ETF ranked first with a scale of 37.782 billion yuan, followed by Southern’s A500 ETF with 36.7 billion yuan. Guotai and Huaxia’s products had scales of 2.9015 billion yuan and 2.8817 billion yuan respectively, forming a “2+2” competitive pattern. Since the market news in October 2025 about each exchange selecting one CSI A500 ETF as an options underlying, fund companies have fiercely competed for scale at the end of each quarter. Since March, all four products have each traded over 1 trillion yuan, with a clear intention to enlarge their size.

Regarding the future market outlook, Invesco Great Wall Fund believes that the reconfiguration of the international order and the AI industry trend constitute a dual logic for reassessing Chinese assets. Expectations of weakening US dollar credit and growth dividends from productivity improvements will continue to support the market. Additionally, some fund managers point out that with corporate earnings recovery and reasonably ample liquidity, the value of equity asset allocation is highlighted. Short-term volatility creates favorable conditions for second-quarter deployment. ETFs in cyclical sectors such as gold and non-ferrous metals saw small net outflows, with Huaxin Gold ETF net outflow of 1.2 billion yuan, indicating funds are beginning to tilt toward equity assets.