London Stock Exchange tops 200 ETFS

The London Stock Exchange today admitted seven new iShares ETFs, taking the total number of ETFs on the Exchange to 200.

First launched in 2000, the ETF market in London has continued its strong expansion in spite of difficult recent market conditions, with 18 new admissions and £12.2 billion worth of trading so far this year.

Pietro Poletto, Head of ETF and ETC Markets at London Stock Exchange Group, said: "It is testament to the attractiveness of the ETF model that at time when equity markets are perceived as being quiet, the ETF market has continued to expand, with very strong trading activity, and regular new product issuance."

The issuers on the Exchange's ETF market are: Deutsche Bank, ETF Securities, Invesco Powershares, iShares and Lyxor. Between them, they issue 78 ETFs based on developed market equity indices; 21 fixed income based ETFs; 41 ETFs tracking emerging markets indices; 53 ETFs covering a broad range of industrial sectors or specific asset classes such as property, private equity or commodities, and seven ‘style' ETFs that focus on specific investment approaches such as small caps or companies with a record of strong dividend payments. In addition, there are now 123 Exchange Traded Commodities and one Exchange Traded Note.

Since the first full year of trading in ETFs, the total value traded in a single year has increased 26 times, up from £1.3 billion in 2001 to £34.7 billion in 2008. The most heavily traded ETF in terms of value traded remains the iShares FTSE 100. Fixed income based ETFs have increased in popularity, with the 21 bond-based ETFs accounting for £857.8 million worth of trading in March this year.

In 2006, the Exchange became the first market globally to operate a multicurrency trading service for ETFs, allowing issuers to offer products for trading in sterling, US dollars or Euros. There are now 119 of these ETF multi-currency lines available, giving investors greater choice and flexibility.

The new iShares ETFs admitted to trading today are: iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan; iShares MSCI Europe ex-EMU; iShares FTSE Developed World ex-UK; iShares Barclays Government Bond 5-7; iShares Barclays Government Bond 10-15; iShares Barclays Euro Treasury Bond and iShares FTSE Gilts UK 0-5.