State Street® SPDR® S&P®/ASX 200 ETF (STW) — Review & Analysis

STW is the original ETF on the ASX — State Street launched it in August 2001, making it the oldest Australian-listed ETF by more than 7 years. As at May 2026, STW holds $6.5 billion in assets — about 1.8% of the entire $358 billion Australian ETF market. Despite being the original, STW has lost market share to newer competitors: VAS ($25.5B), A200 ($9.8B) and IOZ ($8.6B) are all larger as at May 2026. STW tracks the official S&P/ASX 200 Index — the same benchmark you see on the evening news every day. The management fee is 0.05% per annum — competitive but not the cheapest in the category.

To compare STW side-by-side with every other ETF on the ASX, see the full ETF directory.

STW holds the 200 largest companies on the ASX, weighted by market capitalisation. As at May 2026, the top 10 holdings make up roughly 45% of the fund — Commonwealth Bank (~10.5%), BHP (~9.5%), Westpac, NAB, ANZ, Wesfarmers, Macquarie, CSL, Woodside and Rio Tinto. Sector weights mirror the broader ASX 200: ~33% financials, ~22% materials, ~7% healthcare, ~7% consumer discretionary. STW, IOZ, A200 and VAS all track essentially the same benchmark and produce nearly identical returns — the differences come down to fees, methodology nuances and brand familiarity. Over the 5 years to May 2026, STW returned +40.3% total return — comparable to IOZ (+40.8%) and A200 (+41.8%).

STW pays distributions quarterly (late March, June, September and December) with significant franking credits. As at May 2026, the trailing 12-month cash distribution yield runs around 4.0-4.5%, distributions are typically about 80% franked, and the grossed-up yield comes in near 5.5% for an Australian resident taxpayer — virtually identical to its peer ETFs. STW is still held in many older SMSFs and self-directed portfolios — partly out of inertia, partly because of State Street's longstanding institutional relationships. New investors typically pick A200 (0.04% fee) or VAS (largest, most liquid) over STW today.

STW is a perfectly fine ASX 200 tracker — just one that's been outflanked on fees by newer entrants. Unless you're already a State Street client or prefer the SPDR brand, A200 (cheaper at 0.04%) and VAS (largest, broader 300-stock index) are both arguably better picks today. A $10,000 investment in STW at its August 2001 launch (with all distributions reinvested) would be worth roughly $63,000 as at May 2026 — an annualised return of about 7.9% per year over the 25-year period. That's the power of compounding broad Australian equity exposure over a quarter of a century. For the comparison, see VAS vs A200 vs IOZ — which Australian shares ETF is best.