There are over 200 single-country exchange traded funds trading in the U.S. with over $100 billion in combined assets under management. However, most of those ETFs are not pure trackers of a given country’s benchmark equity index.
The small group of single-country ETFs that do track a benchmark international equity index grew by one today with the debut of the Recon Capital FTSE 100 ETF (NasdaqGS: UK), the first U.S.-listed ETF to track the U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 index.
The FTSE, the main benchmark for companies trading on the London Stock Exchange, turned 30 last year and earlier this week hit an all-time high. UK is the second ETF from Recon Capital that is a first-of-its-kind pure tracker of a widely followed European benchmark. In October, the issuer launched the Recon Capital DAX Germany ETF (NasdaqGM: DAX), the only U.S.-listed DAX-tracking ETF. DAX has climbed 11.2% since coming to market. [Investors Rush to Germany ETFs]
“Our ETF licensing business continues to expand across North America and this new product launch represents a great example of working across borders to create new opportunities. We are delighted that ETFs linked to the FTSE 100 Index can now trade continuously, and very pleased to work with Recon Capital Partners to help bring this to market,” said FTSE Group CEO Mark Makepeace in a statement.
There are now nearly 120 North America-listed ETFs tracking FTSE indexes, including marquee names such as the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO), Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VEA) and the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: FXI). VWO and FXI are the largest emerging markets and China ETFs, respectively, trading in the U.S. [FTSE China ETFs top $24B in Assets]
The FTSE 100 allocates nearly 12% of its weight to energy names with banks at almost 10.5% being the only other sector to command a double-digit weight, according to Recon Capital data. Personal and home goods along with industrial goods and services each have weights north of 9% in the index.