Westpac: Net Sell-Side Flow Continued Throughout August

Westpac note that "net sell-side flows increased from the end of July into mid-August, but then decreased towards the end of the month. That risk positioning slowed is probably not surprising given the uncertainties around the spread of the COVID delta variant and the RBA response."

• "Looking at the composition of investors, funded accounts and domestic real money were the largest buyers during the month, while the sell-side flows came from offshore real money accounts and corporates. Derivative pay-side flows continued to increase in August with flows slightly decreasing towards the end of the month, possibly a reflection of investors taking some risk off ahead of the RBA Board meeting and perhaps the September futures roll."
• "We saw net buying of government bonds in the 5- to 10-Year maturities as well as net selling in the >10-Year maturities, which could reflect the curve steepening trend we have been seeing in the past few weeks."