DB X-trackers has expanded its London-listed emerging and frontier markets offering with the cross-listing of ETFs that provide exposure to the equity markets of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the 10 most populated countries in the world and both markets present interesting characteristics. Pakistan has a P/E ratio of just 7 and an attractive dividend yield of 7.41%. Bangladesh, meanwhile, has enjoyed an average annual GDP growth rate of over 6% in the last 5 years and is forecast to maintain this growth through 2016.

Lyxor, one of Europe’s largest ETF providers, has rolled out a new smart beta ETF, the Lyxor ETF EURO SMARTIX iSTOXX 50 Equal Risk (ERC). The ETF, which has been listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris, is indexed to the newly launched EURO iSTOXX 50 Equal Risk Index. Unlike traditional capitalisation-weighted indices, the EURO iSTOXX 50 Equal Risk Index attempts to spread the overall risk of the portfolio equally between the 50 index components.

Swiss & Global Asset Management, manager of the Julius Baer range of funds, has added a series of Julius Baer Smart Equity ETFs to its investment fund range. The Zurich-based company is among the first fund managers in Europe to give investors access to actively managed equity portfolios in an ETF format.

In the second half of 2012 investors will face “a rocky road” compared with the year’s first few months, with the potential “fiscal cliff” in the US as well as Europe’s ongoing turmoil both posing risk to a still weak global recovery, according to Russ Koesterich, Global Chief Investment Strategist for BlackRock’s iShares business.

S&P Indices has announced the launch of the S&P/OIC COMCEC 50 Shariah Index, an index designed to measure the performance of 50 leading Shariah-compliant companies from the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The index has been designed in partnership with the OIC. Companies from all 19 countries and territories whose exchanges are members of the OIC Exchanges and are covered by S&P Indices are eligible for the index.

Investment banking giant Nomura has released a report on gold equities which is highly bullish for gold mining ETFs. According to the report, record cash generation, a new industry focus on financial returns, as well as a potential forward softening in mining capex and operating cost inflation suggest that the historically low valuations currently priced into the gold mining sector are unlikely to persist.

Market Vectors ETFs, the fifth largest provider of exchange-traded products in the US and the eighth largest provider globally, has signalled its global ambitions by partnering with Australian Index Investments (Aii) to launch Market Vectors Australia. Meanwhile, in a further demonstration of the firm’s international expansion plans, five NYSE Arca-traded Market Vectors ETFs have been added to the growing list of Market Vectors ETFs currently available to Qualified Investors in Mexico.

Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and FXCM, a global online provider of foreign exchange trading, have announced the launch of the Dow Jones FXCM Yen Index. The new index measures changes in the value of the Japanese yen against a basket of four of the most-transacted currencies against the yen: the US dollar, the euro, the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar.

DeltaOne Solutions, a provider of financial data solutions, has released a new database containing 10-years of historical data covering constituent history and pricing for tens of thousands of indices and ETFs. The database includes official index value, constituent data, global coverage, fully cross-referenced security identifiers and is retrievable in a variety of formats via a web interface for download or an API.

First Trust Advisors, a US-based ETF provider, has announced the launch of the First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (EMLP), an actively managed ETF designed to provide exposure to companies engaged in the North American energy infrastructure sector. First Trust believes this is an opportune time to invest in energy infrastructure assets, in part because of the new technologies that have been developed to extract previously inaccessible natural gas and oil supplies trapped in shale deposits in North America.