Core ETF Portfolio

For those seeking a dynamically managed, balanced ETF portfolio

10.42% Inception-to-date Performance

About the Portfolio

The Market Matters Core ETF Portfolio includes equity, fixed-income and alternative asset ETFs to populate a core portfolio within a well-defined (yet dynamic) asset allocation structure, broadly considered to be a balanced approach. The portfolio could serve as the ‘core’ for a broad range of more passively minded investors

**Portfolio Performance** UPDATED 31/07/2025 17:00
Portfolio	1M	6M	1Y	2Y PA	3Y PA	ITD PA	Total
CORE ETF	0.25%	-0.28%	5.82%	9.46%	10.73%	10.42%	38.60%
RBA CASH RATE +3%	0.61%	3.51%	6.88%	6.93%	6.90%	6.90%	24.4%
VALUE ADD	(0.36%)	(3.79%)	(1.06%)	+2.53%	+3.83%	+3.56%	+14.20%

* Inception date 18/04/2023

**Portfolio Holdings** 20 MINUTES DELAYED trade now
CODE	NAME	WEIGHT (%)	RISK	TERM	BUY DATE	BUY PRICE ($)	LAST PRICE ($)	DIVIDEND ($)	DAILY CHANGE (%)	GAIN / LOSS (%)
A200	BetaShares Australian 200 ETF	15	Moderate	Long	19/04/2023	122.33	151.39	14.60	-0.20	35.69
VGS	Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ex-Aus)	13	Moderate	Long	19/04/2023	100.55	160.06	10.09	-0.98	69.22
HBRD	BetaShares Active Australian Hybrids Fund	13	Low	Long	19/04/2023	10.01	10.07	1.71	-0.10	17.68
VSO	Vanguard MSCI Aus Small Companies Index ETF	10	High	Long	19/04/2023	64.04	75.32	11.49	-0.19	35.56
MVA	VanEck Australian Property ETF	10	Medium	Long	19/04/2023	20.96	22.99	3.46	-1.03	26.19
IAF	iShares Core Composite Bond ETF	10	Low	Long	19/04/2023	101.94	101.28	5..78	-0.29	4.26
CRED	Betashares IG Corporate Bond ETF	15	Low	Long	18/07/2025	23.40	22.73	1.19	-0.13	2.22
IFRA	VanEck FTSE Global Infra (Hedged) ETF	5	Low	Long	19/04/2023	21.00	25.53	1.67	0.39	29.52
GOLD	Global X Physical Gold	5	Medium	Long	19/04/2023	27.56	58.21		0.87	111.21
AAA	BetaShares Aus High Interest Cash ETF	4	Low	Long	19/04/2023	50.16	50.20	5.35	0.02	10.75

**Recent Sales** UPDATED 21/01/2026 00:00 trade now
Company code	STOCK NAME	ACTIVITY	RISK	TIME HORIZON	EXIT DATE	ENTRY PRICE ($)	CLOSE PRICE ($)	DIVIDENDS ($)	GAIN / LOSS (%)
A200	Betashares ASX 200 ETF	Trimmed 5%	Moderate	Long	21/01/2026	122.33	146.02	13.44	30.35
IAF	iShares Core Composite Bond ETF	Trimmed 7%	Low	Long	18/07/2025	101.94	103.15	6.04	7.25
AAA	High Interest Cash ETF	Trimmed 3%	Low	Long	18/07/2025	50.16	50.18	4.47	8.95
AAA	High Interest Cash ETF	Trimmed 2%	Low	Long	17/07/2024	50.16	50.2	2.48	5.02

OPINION
ACTION

Opinions for positions held in the Core ETF Portfolio

06/08/2026 09:32

First Up

The ASX 200 surged another +0.9% on Wednesday, taking the index well above 9200 for the first time; so much for Liberation Day tariffs, sticky inflation, falling house prices, and the US-Iran War. Gains were broad-based, with more than 75% of the main board advancing as the local market finally punched to new highs; it's only taken 110 trading sessions! A rampant resources market offset weakness in the banks, with BHP on its own contributing 40% of the day's 82-point advance. We don’t want to jinx the local index, but after advancing +5.6% from its intra-day low 9-trading days ago, as we said at the end of July: “We wouldn’t be short for quids.”

03/08/2026 09:41

ASX200 Index

The ASX is set to open lower this morning following fairly aggressive selling of SPI Futures on Friday night after US 30-year bond yields popped to multi-year highs following the previous days FOMC vote where 3 members voted for an immediate rate hike. However, US stocks managed to reverse early losses and close strongly but little confidence returned to the SPI where it felt like some spread traders were buying the battered semiconductors after their almost 30% decline and using some money from the ASX to fund the purchases ahead of the looming uncertainty of reporting season.

30/07/2026 09:40

First Up

The ASX 200 surged through 9000 yesterday, closing up +1% at a fresh 4-month high, supported by a soft inflation read (CPI). Gains were fairly broad-based for a triple-digit day with ~70% of the main board advancing, led by the rate-sensitive stocks. As we’ve alluded to in the last few morning reports, the ASX has been getting its mojo back of late, and the soft CPI hasn’t hurt the backdrop for local stocks. Even the Australian Financial Review quoted our comments along these lines overnight:

29/07/2026 09:36

First Up

The ASX 200 delivered a stellar albeit surprising performance on Tuesday, reversing early losses to close up +0.6%, posting a 6-week high in the process. The buying gathered momentum after lunch ahead of todays pivotal CPI inflation read, with bonds also strong; it felt like some hawks were squaring their positions in case the CPI comes in softer than expected. However, what was most impressive about the performance was the manner in which the local market shrugged off weakness across the region, where the KOSPI (-11%) and Japanese Nikkei (-4%) combined with weak US futures to paint a clouded picture for risk assets.

29/07/2026 09:28

Property stocks look interesting

Property stocks have caught our attention. On Friday, bond yields traded materially higher on a spike up in Oil prices prompting Aussie 3-year yields to increase by ~10bps. We flagged this at the time. In this scenario, the expectations would be for interest rate sensitive sectors like property to get sold off aggressively, yet that didn’t happen, implying the selling towards the sector has been exhausted. This week, those macro headwinds have eased and property stocks (and retailers for that matter) have rallied from near 52 week lows. We think both of these sectors offer very interesting value/yield opportunities at current levels. Today, we’ll focus on property.

27/07/2026 09:47

ASX200 Index

At the index level, it appears the ASX 200 is comfortable trading around the 8800 level, but the volatility under the hood has been high. It’s just that funds have been rotating in an out of stocks/sectors rather that in and out of the market. At this stage it appears the bulls require a “believable” resolution to the US-Iran conflict, &/or a cracking reporting season next month - at least expectations feel muted/cautious. However, when we look at the broad markets valuation its ok except on one front:

22/07/2026 09:24

First Up

The ASX 200 again managed to reverse early losses on Tuesday to edge higher, with the local index continuing to display resilience into dips. The materials and tech sectors returned to the winners' enclosure, with the former adding 29-points on a day when the index closed up only 2-points. The banks were again the main drag on the market with the “Big Four” retreating almost 1%, offsetting much of the good work of BHP (+1.3%), South32 (+6.6%), and the gold stocks, many of whom closed more than +4% higher. Conversely, the lithium names which we discussed yesterday continued to decline: Liontown (-5.1%), Mineral Resources (-3.5%), and PLS Group (-1.7%).

20/07/2026 09:27

ASX200 Index

The ASX remained anchored around the 8800 level last week despite a difficult week for miners and escalating US-Iran tensions that pushed oil back towards US$90/barrel. The game remains the same, money isn’t moving in or out of the local market, its just rotating between different stocks and sectors. We can still see the ASX200 trading back above 9000 in the coming months but it’s going to need a catalyst to move out of its comfort zone.

17/07/2026 09:13

First Up

The ASX200 again fought back from early losses on Thursday to finish down less than 0.1%, with the performance mantle being passed to the banks and retailers while the miners, and in particular BHP Group (ASX: BHP), weighed on the index - not great timing after we sung the praises of the “Big Australian” on Thursday morning! The materials sector took almost 36-points off the ASX200 after BHP and Evolution delivered a 1-2 of disappointing trading updates:

15/07/2026 09:49

First Up

The ASX 200 has now rallied from early losses to close near its highs for five consecutive sessions, after recovering an early 50-point deficit on Tuesday to end the session flat. The miners bounced strongly to close higher despite crude oil trading ~5% higher, with Evolution Mining (+3.2%), South32 (+2%), Regis Resources (+2%), Sandfire (+1.5%), and BHP Group (+0.6%) catching our eye as a slow but steady bid tone surfaced across the gold and copper names. These miners were helped by a recovery in gold (+0.5%) and copper (+1.5%) during our trading session as the $US edged lower ahead of the important US CPI inflation data.