BMO Asset Management, one of Canada’s leading providers of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has introduced seven new ETFs on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The new funds – a mix of equity and fixed income products – are designed to help investors achieve their objectives of income, growth and diversification. With these additions, BMO’s ETF line-up now stands at 58 funds.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, a leading provider of indices to the exchange-traded funds (ETF) industry, has introduced a suite of nine new indices covering the South African equity market. Two of the indices, the S&P South Africa Dividend Aristocrats and S&P South Africa Low Volatility, have been licensed to Grindrod Bank, a commercial bank and asset manager based in South Africa, for potential ETF development.

In 2013, the S&P GSCI Gold and DJ-UBS Gold indices fell 28.3%. Given the severity of this loss and the magnitude of outflows from gold ETPs ($36.4 billion in the 11 months to 30 November 2013, according to BlackRock), many questions have been asked about the future of gold. In this Q&A, Jodie Gunzberg, Vice President of Commodity Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices, answers some of the most popular questions on ETP investors’ minds.

Shenzhen-headquartered Bosera Asset Management, one of the longest-established fund management companies in China, has launched the first ever exchange-traded fund (ETF) listed in Mainland China to be linked to the S&P 500 Index. The new fund is Bosera’s fifth ETF and its first to offer exposure to non-China markets. By offering access to an overseas market, the launch represents a material acceleration of the development and sophistication of the ETF market in Mainland China.

ETF Securities, a leading provider of exchange-traded products, has launched a new product providing exposure to energy commodities while mitigating the effect of currency volatility for euro-referenced investors. Listed on the Deutsche Börse, the ETFS EUR Daily Hedged Energy DJ-UBS ED (00XU) reflects the performance of futures contracts based on Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Brent Crude, RBOB Gasoline and Heating Oil, as well as incorporating a daily rebalanced currency hedge against movements in the EUR/USD exchange rate.

Strong net inflows of $35 billion in September and positive market performance helped to push global exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) assets to $2.22 trillion, a new record high, at the end of Q3 2013, according to ETFGI, a London-based consultancy. The global ETF/ETP industry now has 4,982 ETFs/ETPs, with 10,019 listings, across 57 exchanges, from 212 providers.

WisdomTree, a US-based provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has announced the launch of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Consumer Growth ETF (EMCG). The fund, which has been listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, is linked to the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Consumer Growth Index, a fundamentally weighted index that consists of stocks that best exemplify growth trends in emerging market consumers and their local economies.

Commodity ETFs rallied sharply higher on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve said it would leave its quantitative easing programme unchanged, a policy largely seen as supporting commodity prices. Most risk assets reacted positively to the announcement, but gold and oil, in particular, experienced a strong bounce, with the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), the world’s largest gold ETF, adding 4.5% and the United States Oil Fund (USO), the word’s largest oil ETF, adding 2.4%.

Lyxor has listed a further 17 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), offering a mix of developed and emerging markets equity exposures. Commenting on the launch, Arnaud Llinas, Global Head of ETFs and Indexing at Lyxor, said: “These ETFs have been constructed to meet the requirements our clients have come to expect in line with our Quality Charter, and have been constructed specifically to meet the standards of high liquidity and low tracking error that we seek to maintain across our entire ETF range.”

Goldman Sachs, Visa and Nike are to join the Dow Jones Industrial Average, arguably the world’s most famous stock market gauge. They will replace Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard and Alcoa after the close of trading on Friday, 20th September. A number of exchange-traded funds listed around the world will be affected by the change, the largest being the NYSE Arca-listed SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), which has more than $11 billion in assets under management.