Seven issuers were active on London Stock Exchange in July, listing nineteen new ETFs or share classes, bringing the total number of new listings, including exchange-traded products, to 243 year-to-date.

Seven issuers were active listing ETFs on the London Stock Exchange in July.

There are now 1,097 ETFs and 487 other ETPs listed on the exchange (as of July month end), represented by some 2,195 different trading lines across various currency, currency-hedged, distributing and accumulating share classes.

Listing highlights

HSBC launched the HSBC MSCI China A Inclusion UCITS ETF (HMCT LN), its first new ETF listing since 2014.

The fund provides investors with a tool to invest in the progressive partial inclusion of China A shares – Renminbi-denominated shares traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges – in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over time.

The underlying reference index is the MSCI China A Inclusion Index, which is composed of the 226 large-cap China A shares that have been included in the MSCI EM Index with an inclusion factor of 2.5% on 1 June 2018, increasing to 5% in the second stage of the inclusion process in September.

The fund is physically replicating and the first its kind in Europe to access China A shares through Stock Connect programmes rather than using the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) quota system. It comes with a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.60%.

WisdomTree launched a couple of ETFs, comprising a smart beta US multifactor ETF and a Japanese small cap ETF.

The WisdomTree US Multifactor UCITS ETF (USMF LN), which comes with a TER of 0.30%, tracks a proprietary in-house index that provides exposure to large and mid-cap US equities. Stocks are assigned a composite score based on two fundamental factors (value and quality) and two technical factors (momentum and low correlation), with the 200 companies with the highest composite factor scores included in the index.

Stocks are weighted by a combination of their composite factor score and trailing 12-month volatility, rewarding less volatile stocks with a greater weight in the index, subject to a 4% cap.

The WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend UCITS ETF (DFJA LN), which has a TER of 0.48%, also tracks a proprietary index which focuses on dividend-paying small-cap stocks listed in Japan.

The index is based on a universe of Tokyo Stock Exchange stocks that have paid out at least $5m in cash dividends in the prior year and have a market capitalization of at least $100m but excluding the 300 largest companies. Weighting is on the basis of cash dividends paid (dividend-per-share multiplied by number of shares outstanding), subject to a constituent cap of 2% and a sector cap of 25%.

DWS cross-listed the Xtrackers II USD Emerging Markets Bond UCITS ETF (XUEM LN). This fund, which listed on Xetra in May, provides exposure to investment grade and high-yield emerging market bonds denominated in US dollars. Its TER is 0.35%.

It tracks the FTSE Emerging Markets Government and Government-Related Select Bond Index through direct physical replication using an optimised sampling methodology. The index is composed of bonds issued by governments, regional governments, or government-related entities from emerging market countries.

Lyxor introduced pound sterling-denominated share classes for two of its ‘core’ ETFs. The new share classes offer low-cost GBP access to eurozone companies.

The Lyxor Core Euro Stoxx 300 UCITS ETF trades under the ticker MFDD LN and tracks the Euro Stoxx Index, which consists of 300 eurozone equities that are part of the broader Stoxx Europe 600 Index – a reference for the large, mid, and small cap security market across Europe. The ETF has a TER of just 0.07%.

The new GBP share class of the Lyxor Core MSCI EMU UCITS ETF trades under the ticker MFEX LN and tracks the MSCI EMU Index. It has a similar risk profile to the Euro Stoxx Index and captures large and mid-cap representation across ten developed market countries in the eurozone. With 249 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization of the European Economic and Monetary Union. The ETF has a TER of 0.12%.

Lyxor also launched the Lyxor S&P 500 Banks UCITS ETF (BNKU LN), providing exposure to US large-cap banking stocks and diversified financials that are part of the bellwether S&P 500 index of blue-chip US stocks. BNKU has a TER of 0.20%.

UBS launched two multifactor equity ETFs targeting global and eurozone stocks that seek to capture the returns attributed to six risk premia – momentum, value, quality, shareholder yield, volatility and size. Each underlying MSCI index is constructed by combining the weights of constituents in six single factor indices through an equal contribution of each index at every quarterly rebalance.

The UBS MSCI EMU Select Factor Mix UCITS ETF (EUFM LN) invests in small, mid and large-cap stocks from ten developed market eurozone countries by tracking the MSCI EMU Select Factor Mix Index. Its TER is 0.34%.

The UBS MSCI World Select Factor Mix UCITS ETF (WOFM LN) tracks the MSCI World Select Factor Mix Index, which tracks stocks from 26 developed markets globally. The fund’s TER is 0.46%.

UBS also launched a GBP-hedged share class for its global gender equality fund. The UBS Global Gender Equality Hedged to GBP ETF (GENG LN) provides currency-hedged exposure to the Solactive Equileap Global Gender Equality 100 Leaders Net Total Return Index, created by Frankfurt-based index provider Solactive and backed by analytics powered by gender equality foundation Equileap.

The index selects 100 companies that are leaders in terms of gender equality in the workplace from a universe of over 3,000 firms across 23 developed market countries. The fund has a TER of 0.30%.

Vanguard launched the Vanguard DAX UCITS ETF (VDXX LN) which tracks the performance of the DAX, the leading German equity index. The index is weighted by market capitalisation, subject to an individual constituent cap of 10%. The DAX provides investors with exposure to the 30 largest and most important companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by exchange turnover and market cap. Its TER is 0.10%.

Meanwhile BlackRock launched four new accumulating share classes of existing fixed income funds as well as a distributing share class of the GBP-hedged version of its S&P 500 ETF.