Boost, a London-based provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products, has entered the Italian market with the launch of eight ETPs on Borsa Italiana’s ETFplus market. Commenting on the launch, Nik Bienkowski, Co-CEO of Boost, said: “Boost is very proud to be listing Italy’s first 3x short and 3x leverage ETPs on the Borsa Italiana. Short and leverage products can be useful tools, allowing investors to hedge portfolios or take short-terms views on the world’s major commodity and equity indices.”

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM), the asset management division of Deutsche Bank, has launched the London Stock Exchange’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF) to be based on the DAX Index. While numerous DAX-linked ETFs are listed around the world, the db x-trackers DAX UCITS ETF (DR) (XDDX) is the first to be available locally to UK-based investors. The DAX measures the performance of the 30 largest companies in terms of order book volume and market capitalisation on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

By David Stevenson – Despite all the grim news surrounding gold, I find myself looking afresh at gold mining equity funds and wondering whether now is the time to start quietly increasing my exposure. In essence, investors face two equally dismal choices. Do they focus on investing with an active fund manager who will “know” which miners to back or do they invest in a passive ETF? The second equally lethal choice is whether they should back larger lower-cost miners or junior miners where the rewards could be huge?

Asset class performance has been very mixed so far this year with currency volatility re-awakened and softening global economic data suggesting more difficult times ahead, according to Stephen Cohen, Head of iShares EMEA Investment Strategy & Insight. So what can investors do? Cohen proposes four strategies: overweighting defensive equities and equity income; using developed market equities to access emerging markets; playing Japan via a currency-hedged solution; and mitigating interest rate risk in fixed income and looking at local currency emerging markets debt.

Stoxx, a leading index provider, has introduced the Euro Stoxx 50 BuyWrite 100% Index. The index measures the performance of a buy-write or covered-call strategy based on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, the eurozone’s leading blue-chip equity index. The new index, which has been designed to underlie index-linked financial products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), represents a hypothetical portfolio of a long position in the Euro Stoxx 50 and a sold – or written – call option based on the same index.

The potential of emerging markets (EM) is well understood, underpinned by superior growth and robust credit fundamentals. But with recent EM equity performance poor, developed market corporates could provide an attractive, alternative gateway to this potential. Stephen Cohen, Head of EMEA Investment Strategy at iShares, says: “The benefits of EM through developed markets are plenty: Some of the highest quality and most stable developed market companies have made great inroads into emerging economies. There will also be less political and foreign ownership risk, and better governance”.

Boost ETP, a leading provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products (ETPs), has announced that its three-times leveraged long and short DAX products have been listed in sterling on the London Stock Exchange. The new GBP listings complement the products’ existing EUR listings, making them more accessible to UK investors, with tighter relative spreads. The listing follows a similar move last week, which saw the provider’s oil, gold and silver products also gain new GBP trading lines.

Providers of index-tracking UCITS exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will be required by European regulation to disclose predictions of their ETFs’ tracking error and tracking difference. Providers will also have to explain any divergence. In recognition of these requirements, Morningstar has produced a report which examines the factors influencing tracking efficiency in ETFs. Among the key findings are that, in general, ETFs have done well in limiting tracking error and that those using synthetic replication typically produce lower tracking error than those using physical replication.

Risks continued to ease in the fourth quarter of 2012, with no signs of a reversal ahead, according to risk specialists Axioma. Melissa Brown, Senior Director of Applied Research at Axioma, said: “The decline in risk should give investors the opportunity to focus on achieving active returns.” With predicted risk considerably reduced, now could be the time for risk tolerant sophisticated investors to consider tactically adding a degree of leverage to their portfolios via leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offering geared exposure to various markets.

In a recent research report, analysts at AXA Investment Managers came out bullish on Asian emerging market equities, putting it among their top calls. One way to implement this trade is via exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the MSCI Emerging Markets Asia Index (MSCI EM Asia), an index which targets the precise region the AXA analysts are positive on.