2 Best High-Yielding Australia Bond ETFs

Investors looking to diversify their portfolios beyond their traditional U.S. equity and fixed-income securities holdings may wish to consider Australian bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs), to efficiently gain exposure to fixed-income securities of governments, government agencies, and the corporate debt of companies in Australia. The following high-yielding Australian bond ETFs warrant a closer look.

The SPDR S&P/ASX Australian Bond Fund

The SPDR S&P/ASX Australian Bond ETF (BOND.AX) was issued by State Street Global Advisors on July 26, 2012. The fund charges no annual expense ratio and is managed by State Street Global Advisors Australia Limited. The fund aims to provide returns corresponding to those of the S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Interest Index, which is the fund's benchmark index.

The fund boasts the following sector breakdown, in its exposure profile:

• Commonwealth government bonds (54.14%)
• Semi-government bonds (27.37%)
• Supranational bonds (5.37%)
• Government-related bonds: (4.78%)
• Corporate-finance bonds (4.96%)
• Corporate industry bonds (2.23%)
• Other (0.78%)
• Corporate utility bonds (0.38%)

As of April 19, 2020, the fund's YTD total return was 3.35%. The average maturity of its underlying investments is 6.95 years, and it currently has AU$45.82 million in assets under management.

The iShares Core Composite Bond ETF

The iShares Core Composite Bond ETF (IAF) was issued by BlackRock Inc. (BLK) on March 14, 2012. The fund seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg AusBond Composite Index, which is the fund's underlying index.

To achieve its investment objective, this ETF primarily holds investment grade fixed-income securities issued by the Australian government, and by corporations domiciled in Australia. Investing in the fund requires an annual management fee of 0.15%.

As of November 11, 2019, the fund had 511 holdings and total net assets of AU$1.1 billion. The fund's YTD total return was 2.57%. The average maturity of its underlying investments is 7-to-10 years, with 28.52% of the fund committed to such investments. This is followed by bonds with a 3-5 year duration (16.98%), bonds with a 5-7 year duration (13.88%), and bonds with a 10-15 year duration (10.05%).

General Australian Bond ETF Growth 

As a broad asset class, Australian corporate bond ETFs have experienced an undeniable surge over the past five years. During that time, these investments spiked 51% annually, on average, to reach total assets of approximately AU$13.3 billion, representing about 17% of the overall Australian ETF market. Many analysts expect this uptrend to continue.