US ETF assets rise 4 pct in April - State Street

NEW YORK, May 14 (Reuters) - Assets in U.S.-based exchange-traded funds rose by $22.9 billion, or 4 percent in April to $594.75 billion, according to a report on Wednesday from State Street Global Advisors.

During the month, 16 ETFs were launched, raising the total to 659.

Assets of ETFs investing in stocks of REITs grew by 18 percent to $9.024 billion and assets of ETFs investing om financial stocks grew by 16 percent to $11.913 billion, the largest percentage increases among sector ETFs.

Assets of ETFs investing in fixed income grew by 4.6 percent to $42.288 billion.

"We continue to see demand for low correlated assets classes and also in the fixed income space," said Anthony Rochte, senior managing director at SSgA.

He said demand for international fixed income is especially strong.

The SDPR Lehman International Treasury Bond ETF BWX.A has grown to more than $800 million in assets since its launch in October 2007.

State Street Global Advisors is the investment management arm of State Street Corp (STT.N). (Reporting by Cal Mankowski; Editing by Kenneth Barry)