Uncertainty heats up, sparking defensive demand; dividend strategy ETFs attract investor attention

Recently, dividend styles have come under pressure. However, amid increasing macroeconomic uncertainties overseas, market profit-taking effects have declined, and investors’ demand for high-dividend, defensive assets has further increased. At the same time, rising oil prices resonate with energy security strategies, prompting the market to reassess the value of “physical assets.” Traditional dividend sectors, represented by coal, oil, and petrochemicals, are expected to benefit from relatively certain profit growth. This aligns with the current market revaluation of HALO assets and is likely to inject new momentum into the recovery of dividend styles.

CaiXin Securities pointed out that under the continued “double easing” tone of fiscal and monetary policies, ongoing inflows of household savings into the market, improved performance of listed companies amid anti-inflation efforts, and continuous breakthroughs in global AI technology, the foundation of this round of A-share market remains solid. It is expected that the recent Middle East conflict will only impact short-term market sentiment and trading rhythm, without changing the overall market direction. Investors may focus on high-dividend assets in the near term.

Under multiple catalysts, Huatai-PineBridge’s “Dividend Family” ETFs are actively traded, with significantly increased investor attention. Among them, two popular products—Huatai-PineBridge Low-Volatility Dividend ETF (512890) and Huatai-PineBridge Dividend ETF (510880)—as well as the Central Enterprise Dividend ETF (561580), which has a higher proportion of HALO assets, have seen four consecutive days of net fund inflows. Yesterday, the Huatai-PineBridge Low-Volatility Dividend ETF (512890) also saw increased trading volume, reaching 907 million yuan, up 58% from the previous day.

Looking at the longer term, the dividend strategy’s “attracting capital” effect is quite evident. Since the beginning of the year, the Huatai-PineBridge Low-Volatility Dividend ETF (512890) has attracted a total of 3.855 billion yuan, making it one of the few dividend-themed ETFs with net inflows exceeding 2.6 billion yuan during this period, pushing its size to a new high of 314.26 billion yuan. The Central Enterprise Dividend ETF (561580) has also attracted 394 million yuan this year, making it one of the few market-wide central enterprise dividend ETFs with net inflows over 1 billion yuan.

Currently, with weak endogenous economic momentum and continued monetary easing as the main trend, dividend assets are expected to become more suitable core holdings for medium- and long-term funds amid low risk-free rates and asset scarcity. The current 10-year government bond yield is 1.82%, and the yield spreads between the dividend low-volatility index, dividend index, and central enterprise dividend index remain higher than the 10-year averages of 60.78%, 55.00%, and 68.43%, respectively.

Driven by the popularity of Huatai-PineBridge’s “Dividend Family” ETFs, as of March 18, 2026, the five ETFs in the series have become part of a dividend strategy investment ecosystem with a total scale of 53.116 billion yuan, accounting for over a quarter of all market dividend-themed ETFs, and have generated a total profit of 9.879 billion yuan for investors.

Among them, the Huatai-PineBridge Dividend ETF (510880) is the first dividend-themed index fund in A-shares, with a total dividend of 5.18 billion yuan over 19 years; the Huatai-PineBridge Low-Volatility Dividend ETF (512890) is the first and currently the only dividend low-volatility ETF in the market with assets exceeding 300 billion yuan; the Central Enterprise Dividend ETF (561580) is the first “Central Enterprise + Dividend” dual-theme ETF in A-shares; the Hong Kong Stock Connect Dividend ETF (513530) and the Hong Kong Stock Connect Low-Volatility Dividend ETF (520890) focus on high-dividend assets in Hong Kong stocks. The former uses a QDII model, offering certain advantages in Hong Kong dividend tax, while the latter incorporates a low-volatility factor, enhancing its defensive properties in the more volatile Hong Kong market.

As Huatai-PineBridge’s “Dividend Family” becomes a popular choice for investors deploying dividend assets, the off-market connection fund Huatai-PineBridge Low-Volatility Dividend ETF Connection Y (022951) is also favored by individual pension investors. By the end of 2025, the fund’s scale reached 448 million yuan, making it the first index fund to surpass 400 million yuan in scale among “Index Y” products. Its scale has increased by 886.43% over five quarters, ranking at the top among all “Index Y” funds, and it is the only product with more than 20,000 holders among all index Y shares.

MACD golden cross signals have formed, and these stocks are showing good upward momentum!