Global X to Roll Out Nigeria, Central Asia ETFs on Wednesday

Global X, the New York-based ETF issuer best known for its commodities and income-focused funds, will introduce two new ETFs on Wednesday, April 3 with a heavy focus on frontier markets. The Global X Nigeria Index ETF and the Global X Central Asia & Mongolia Index ETF will both debut tomorrow.

The Global X Nigeria Index ETF will trade under the ticker "NGE" while the Global X Central Asia & Mongolia Index ETF will trade under the ticker "AZIA." Both funds will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Indicating that sometimes it can take a while from the time an issuer files to list a new fund until the ETF actually comes to life, Global X filed plans for its Nigeria and Central Asia ETFs in July 2011.

Still, Global X will have the first-mover advantage with both ETFs. Van Eck, parent company of Market Vectors, filed plans for Mongolia and Nigeria ETFs in 2011, actually before Global X did, but those funds have yet to come to market.

In addition to Mongolia, which is home to bountiful coal reserves, AZIA will also offer exposure to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Index Fund (NYSE: FM) is one of just a small amount of ETFs to offer any exposure to any of those countries with a 3.8 percent allocation to Kazakhstan. FM also has a 13.6 percent weight to Nigeria.

AZIA and NGE will have annual fees of 0.69 percent and 0.68 percent, respectively, according to the Global X prospectus.

The firm sponsors some other popular emerging markets ETFs, including the The Global X China Consumer ETF (NYSE: CHIQ), which has over $200 million in assets, and the $190.1 million Global X FTSE Colombia 20 ETF (NYSE: GXG).

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