Borsa Italiana, Italy’s main stock exchange and part of the London Stock Exchange Group, has celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) listing. From just eight ETFs in 2002 with €500 million in assets under management, the Milan-based exchange has grown to over 600 ETFs today with assets of around €18 billion.

UBS has expanded its range of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with the introduction of three new funds. The additional funds, which provide exposure to ‘socially responsible’ companies and Brazil, reflect the Swiss firm’s commitment to the London market and come just three months after it made its ETF debut on the exchange.

Volatility ETNs and ETFs have surged in popularity, helping providers such as iPath, VelocityShares, ProShares, UBS and Source to accumulate billions in assets. However, the chaotic collapse of the VelocityShares VIX ETN (TVIX) earlier this year has led EDHEC-Risk Institute to publish a study into the unique nature of volatility ETNs.

STOXX has announced the introduction of the STOXX+ Global Max Traded 200 Index. The new index applies an advanced set of screens to ensure that only the largest and most frequently traded companies worldwide are included, while at the same time offering a wide global diversification. The STOXX+ Global Max Traded 200 Index is geared towards active trading purposes and has been designed to act both as a proper benchmark for actively managed funds, and to underlie exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other investable products.

Investor sentiment has risen sharply from the lows of July and global fund managers have increased allocations to equities, most notably in Europe, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for August. Having turned their backs on Europe, especially the eurozone, for much of 2012 investors are becoming far less bearish on the region. Significantly, there are more investors wanting to underweight US equities than eurozone equities.

Equities in developed markets are increasingly viewed as undervalued, the CFA UK Valuation Index has revealed. The most recent publication of the CFA Society of the UK’s quarterly survey shows that 50% of respondents rated developed market equities as either ‘undervalued’ or ‘very undervalued’, compared to 39% in Q2. Global developed market ETFs such as the PowerShares FTSE RAFI Developed 1000 ETF (PSRD) or the HSBC MSCI World ETF (HMWD) provide an efficient way to capitalise on this potential opportunity.

Research from Legal & General Investments shows emerging markets to be the most popular geographical investment destination in the next six months, with two fifths (40%) of independent financial advisers (IFAs) choosing it as the likely best performer in the short term. When it comes to emerging markets ETFs, investors are spoilt for choice with a huge range of ETFs offering broad, regional, country and sector exposure.

UBS, the Switzerland-headquartered investment bank, has expanded its suite of exchange-traded products based on Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) with the launch of the UBS ETRACS Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMU). AMU has been listed on the NYSE Arca and is linked to the Alerian MLP Index, a composite of 50 publicly-traded energy MLPs.

UBS has built on its position as one of the leading and fastest-growing ETF providers in Europe by rolling out a comprehensive range of ETFs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The range includes access to 66 ETF share classes, replicating 40 indices across equities, fixed income and alternatives. Clemens Reuter, Head of UBS ETFs, said: “The London listing reinforces our commitment to the UK market and brings UBS’s wide range of ETFs to this important financial centre.”

Over the past week shares in two of the largest rare earth metals producers, Lynas (LYC) and Molycorp (MCP), have rallied on a combination of stock-specific and industry news. The strong performance from these two sector heavy weights has pushed up rare earth ETFs, including the Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX) and the UBS-ETF STOXX Global Rare Earth (UIMV), which are showing signs of rebounding from recent lows.