| "US retail investors have bought individual stocks as a way of getting exposure to Russia, but the advent of a reputable ETF may gradually change this" James Fenkner, Red Star Asset Management |
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State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the world’s second-biggest exchange-traded fund provider, has launched an ETF targeting the buoyant Russian equity markets. The new SPDR S&P Russia ETF will go head to head with the $1.5 billion Market Vectors Russia ETF managed by Van Eck Global, which has proved to be one of the world’s best-performing and most popular ETFs over the past year, soaring by 167% in the year to the start of March.
The ETF market’s performance has been driven on the back of hopes that commodity-rich Russia will emerge strongly from the global economic downturn. The economy shrank by 8% in 2009 but is forecast to grow by at least 3% this year. SSgA’s new offering, which will be managed by managing directors Lynn Blake and John Tucker, brings the company’s emerging market ETF line-up to eight, with more than $2.4 billion of assets under management.