SSgA Launches Russia ETF

March 11, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation, has announced that the SPDR S&P Russia ETF began trading on the NYSE Arca on March 11, 2010.

The fund is designed to provide investors with access to companies domiciled in Russia, and its annual expense ratio is 0.59%, according to the announcement. The SPDR S&P Russia ETF seeks to track the performance of the S&P BMI Russia Capped Index, which includes companies domiciled in Russia with a float-adjusted market cap of $100 million or more and a minimum value traded of $50 million for the last 12 months at the time of annual reconstitution.

As of February 26, 2010, the Index included 72 stocks.

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“The driving force behind the development of this new emerging market SPDR ETF was increasing investor demand for more precise exposure to the BRIC countries,” said Anthony Rochte, senior managing director at SSgA, in the announcement. 

The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) economies encompass more than 25% of the world’s land mass and 40% of the world’s population. According to MSCI, BRIC equities have returned 26% per annum versus 18% for the standard emerging markets index over the last seven years ending November 30, 2009.

More information is at http://www.ssga.com.

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