The Markets January 14, 2011

ETF Securities Unveils Gold Offering

ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares began listing on the NYSE Arca on Friday, trading under the ticker AGOL, ETF Securities announced.

 

Reported by

A news release said AGOL is the first U.S. precious metals product to be vaulted in Asia and will be held in Singapore.

According to the announcement, the highlights of the new offering are: 

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  • ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares (AGOL) will custody all of its physical gold bars in secure LBMA approved vaults in Singapore.
  • ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares (AGOL) are backed by London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) gold bars that meet “good delivery” standards.
  • Investors can diversify their gold holdings either into Asia using AGOL or Switzerland using the existing SGOL.  Both ETPs are offered at 0.39% per annum. 
  • Gold bars underlying AGOL will be audited bi-annually by an independent third party auditor.  All gold bar numbers will be published daily at www.etfsecurities.com.

ETF Securities now offers seven precious metal ETPs with a variety of single and basket precious metal ETPs. 

The objective of the ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares (AGOL) is to reflect the price performance of physical gold, less trust expenses. The trust is open-ended and is designed for investors who want a cost-effective and convenient way to invest in or diversify their existing gold holdings.

ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares represent a direct interest in physical gold bullion held in vaults located in Singapore by the Custodian (JP Morgan Chase Bank). 

The Markets January 14, 2011

Barclays Offers More Equity Volatility ETNs

Barclays Bank PLC has launched a series of iPath Exchange-Traded Notes (ETNs) linked to the inverse performance of the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index Excess Return.

 

Reported by

The launch of the iPath January 2021 Inverse S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETNs expands the Barclays suite of equity volatility ETNs, according to a the announcement. The ETNs will be listed on the NYSE Arca stock exchange under the ticker symbol IVO.   

The ETNs are designed to provide investors with an exchange-traded way to implement a ‘short’ view on volatility in the U.S. equities markets. The returns on these new ETNs are calculated in a similar manner to those on the existing iPath Inverse S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETNs (ticker symbol: XXV) launched on July 16, 2010, the announcement said. The two series of ETNs are both linked to the inverse performance of the Index; however, they have, among other things, different inception dates, issue dates, initial valuation dates, final valuation dates and maturity dates, and the two series of ETNs are not fungible with one another.   

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The Index is designed to reflect the returns that are potentially available through an unleveraged investment in short-term futures contracts on the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX Futures). VIX Futures reflect the implied volatility of the S&P 500 Index, which provides an indication of the pattern of stock price movement in the U.S. equities market. The new series of ETNs is an uncollateralized debt obligation of Barclays Bank PLC with a 10-year maturity.    

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