As the S&P 500 gauge of U.S. stocks heads for a record close Tuesday, at least one investor in exchange-traded funds is positioning for a bigger bull run.

More than US$288 million shares in the US$20.1 billion Vanguard Information Technology ETF, known as VGT, crossed the tape at 11:42 a.m. in New York, lifting trading in the fund to the highest in more than three months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Tech stocks have climbed almost 27 per cent this year, leading the benchmark’s 17 per cent gain. These fast-growing companies have been a backbone of the S&P 500’s longest advance in history, but fell out of favor at the beginning of the year as investors pulled money from equities. More than US$2 billion left growth-oriented ETFs in January, but flows since then have brought the group close to breaking even. The average growth ETF is up 19 per cent this year.

But VGT wasn’t the only fund to have a busy morning. Minutes before its bumper trade, about US$461 million of the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund, known as XLV, hit the tape. Investors have been ditching health-care stocks amid political debate about expanding Medicare to all Americans.