(August 10 – 17:05 ET) – The trend toward exchange-traded funds has apparently led State Street Global Advisors to revive a proposed fund based on the Dow Jones Canada 40 index.
The fund was first proposed back in February when State Street and Barclays Global Advisors waged a brief but fierce battle over the winding up of TIPs and HIPs trading on the TSE. Barclays succeeded in rolling them into its new iUnits.
State Street promised it would launch the fund even though it lost the battle with Barclays, yet until now they’ve dropped off the radar. Now the TSE is seeking brokers to act as the Registered Trader/Specialist for the fund.
State Street is the sponsor and manager of the fund, which will be managed as an index-tracking fund based on the Dow Jones Canada 40 Index. The Dow 40 was introduced with a base value set at 1,000.00 as of Dec. 31, 1998. It is currently at 1,909, up 37.5% this year.
In March the index abolished its 10% concentration restriction and as a result Nortel Networks Ltd. currently makes up 50.7% of the index. The next largest weighting is Seagram at 3.89%, followed by Royal Bank, TD Bank, BCE, Scotia, Bank of Montreal and CIBC.
The TSE will accept applications for the specialist position up to August 24.
-IE Staff