--- title: "ETF Monthly Review (March 2026): Oil and Gas Lead the Way, Bottom-fishing Funds in Hong Kong Stocks Begin to Exit" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/281330886.md" description: "In March 2026, the A-share market showed a mixed performance, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling by 6.51%, while the ChiNext experienced a smaller decline. The oil and gas sector performed outstandingly, with the S&P Oil & Gas ETF managed by Harvest rising by 36.28%, becoming the market leader. The overall ETF market saw a net inflow of 2.112 billion yuan, but stock ETFs experienced a net outflow of over 60 billion yuan. A report from GF Securities pointed out that rising oil prices will accelerate nominal price increases, and the liquidity environment may become tighter, suggesting attention to large settlement banks" datetime: "2026-04-01T08:29:18.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/281330886.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281330886.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/281330886.md) --- # ETF Monthly Review (March 2026): Oil and Gas Lead the Way, Bottom-fishing Funds in Hong Kong Stocks Begin to Exit In March 2026, the A-share market showed a mixed performance. After experiencing fluctuations in the first half of the month, the Shanghai Composite Index fell below 4,000 points in the second half, with a cumulative decline of 6.51% for the month. The ChiNext performed relatively well, with a cumulative decline of 3.79% for the month. From an industry perspective, the structural differentiation in the market was significant in March: the power sector performed well, and the pharmaceutical and computing industries also showed active trends; international oil prices continued to rise against the backdrop of shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, driving the overall upward trend in the chemical sector. **Oil and gas energy stands out, banks show slight recovery** Against the backdrop of geopolitical conflicts, **the oil and gas sector became the best-performing asset in March 2026**. According to the ETF monthly performance rankings, the S&P Oil & Gas ETF managed by Harvest surged 36.28% that month, leading the entire market. The Energy Chemical ETF managed by CCB followed closely, with a monthly increase of 34.59%. Similarly, the S&P Oil & Gas ETF managed by Invesco, which tracks the S&P Oil & Gas Index, also saw a monthly increase of over 31%. In stark contrast, other sectors performed significantly worse, with monthly increases not exceeding 4%. Specifically, **bank-themed ETFs stopped declining and showed signs of recovery**, with the Bank ETF managed by Tianhong, the Bank ETF managed by Huaan, and the Bank ETF managed by Invesco all seeing monthly increases of over 3.7%; additionally, the Soybean Meal ETF managed by Huaxia, the 300 Dividend Low Volatility ETF managed by Harvest, and the Hang Seng Innovative Drug ETF managed by Huatai-PineBridge all had monthly increases exceeding 2.3 percentage points. According to a research report by GF Securities, in the short term, considering the domestic cycle position and external demand recovery, **the ability of cost shocks to transmit downstream will be stronger than the previous oil price shocks**. It is expected that the rise in oil prices in the second quarter **will accelerate the nominal price increase, and the liquidity environment will be relatively tight in the second quarter.** Banks still have relative defensiveness, but during the period of rising long-term interest rates, absolute returns should not be expected, **and stocks with high financing ratios should be avoided.** In the medium term, the demand side is likely to maintain an expansion trend, with expectations of increased disintermediation, wealth management, and non-bankization, further favoring large settlement banks. **Capital flows: Risk-averse style continues, capital views diverge** In March, the ETF market saw a total net inflow of 2.112 billion yuan. By type, **after a net outflow of 20.453 billion yuan in February, stock ETFs further expanded their outflow in March, with a total net outflow exceeding 60 billion yuan for the month**; bond ETFs, commodity ETFs, and cross-border ETFs received net inflows of 31.527 billion yuan, 11.387 billion yuan, and 14.596 billion yuan, respectively The fund flow of a single fund further reflects this characteristic. In March 2026, the fund flow in the ETF market continued the previous risk-averse style, **with funds continuing to flow into fixed income products**. The Short-term Bond ETF from HaiFuTong topped the list with a net inflow of 13.56 billion yuan, while the Sci-Tech Bond ETF from JiaShi and the City Investment Bond ETF from HaiFuTong saw net inflows of 9.142 billion yuan and 8.671 billion yuan, respectively. Together, the three attracted over 31.3 billion yuan, indicating a strong market preference for low-risk assets. At the same time, **some funds still chose to enter the market to bottom-fish**. Compared to February's purchase of HengKe, in March, the Grid Equipment ETF from HuaXia recorded a net inflow of nearly 9 billion yuan despite a 6.74% decline that month. The Gold ETF from HuaAn attracted 4.4 billion yuan for bottom-fishing, even though it retraced over 11% in a single month. Additionally, the Sci-Tech 50 ETF from HuaXia also recorded a net inflow of 3.7 billion yuan despite a drop of over 15%. In contrast to the inflow side, **in March, funds massively withdrew from the core broad-based A-share indices and some previously popular sectors**. The A500 ETF from HuaXia saw a net outflow of over 8.3 billion yuan in a single month, while the ChiNext ETF from YiFangDa and the CSI 500 ETF from NanFang recorded net outflows of 7.610 billion yuan and 7.519 billion yuan, respectively. **Hong Kong stocks also faced selling pressure**, with the Hong Kong Stock Connect Internet ETF from FuGuo experiencing a net outflow of over 7.4 billion yuan, and the Hong Kong Stock Connect Non-bank ETF from GF seeing a net outflow of over 4.2 billion yuan. In February, despite the significant drop in the Hong Kong stock market, many funds still began to bottom-fish related assets. Moreover, previously popular ETFs such as the Chemical ETF from PengHua, the Non-ferrous Metals ETF from NanFang, and the Media ETF from GF also appeared at the top of the outflow list, with net outflows of 5.961 billion yuan, 5.540 billion yuan, and 3.627 billion yuan, respectively. Related products saw significant retracements in March, leading many funds to choose to exit during the ongoing sector adjustments. **Scale Changes: Short-term Bond ETF from HaiFuTong has received over 10 billion yuan in inflows for the second consecutive month** From the perspective of scale growth, **fixed income products have become the core battleground for fund risk aversion**. The Short-term Bond ETF from HaiFuTong saw its scale surge by 13.684 billion yuan in March, marking the second consecutive month of receiving over 10 billion yuan in inflows; The Sci-Tech Bond ETF from Harvest and the City Investment Bond ETF from HFT Investment followed closely behind, with sizes increasing by CNY 9.21 billion and CNY 8.783 billion, respectively; the Yinhua Daily Profit ETF also achieved a monthly scale expansion of CNY 5.096 billion. Among industry theme ETFs, the **Grid Equipment ETF from Huaxia** saw a significant increase of CNY 6.438 billion despite a decline of 6.74% during the month, while the Free Cash Flow ETF from Huaxia grew by CNY 3.646 billion. The Energy Storage Battery ETF from E Fund, the Power ETF from GF, and the Grid Equipment ETF from Guotai also achieved increases of over CNY 2 billion, indicating that **funds remain enthusiastic about specific prosperous sectors despite an overall defensive posture**. On the scale reduction side, the **core broad-based A-share index faced significant selling pressure**. The Southern CSI 500 ETF saw a monthly scale reduction of CNY 17.554 billion, while the Huatai-PB CSI 300 ETF and the E Fund CSI 300 ETF decreased by CNY 15.428 billion and CNY 9.231 billion, respectively. The Huaxia A500 ETF and the E Fund ChiNext ETF also saw declines of CNY 10.796 billion and CNY 9.551 billion, respectively. Additionally, the funding layout in Hong Kong tech and some cyclical sectors also experienced significant shrinkage due to the market's sharp pullback. ### Related Stocks - [162719.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/162719.CN.md) - [000001.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/000001.CN.md) - [399006.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/399006.CN.md) ## Related News & Research - [BNB ETF Could Be Next Big Crypto Breakthrough, Says Bloomberg Analyst](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286639724.md) - [VanEck, Grayscale file fresh BNB ETF amendments as race for next altcoin spot ETF accelerates](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286652991.md) - [Worried About a Market Crash? 3 Vanguard ETFs Built to Survive](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286880525.md) - [3 Dividend ETFs to Lock In Before Summer Volatility Picks Up](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286999152.md) - [3 Vanguard ETFs with 20%+ Upside That Could Crush VOO in 2026](https://longbridge.com/en/news/287026519.md)