ETF Securities announced yesterday (19th November) that it intends to launch three new exchange-traded commodity (ETC) products on the Australian Stock Exchange before the end of the year.

The company confirmed that it will begin trading a physically-backed precious metals basket incorporating silver, platinum and palladium at some point during December.

Graham Tuckwell, Chairman of the firm - which has also revealed that it has acquired Gold Bullion Securities, the world's first gold ETC - explained that the strategy has two motivating factors.

He said: "First, it comes in the wake of increasing global demand for precious metals through ETCs, which have seen steady growth over the last four years to over AUS$38 billion.

"Second, we want to offer investors exposure to a broad range of precious metals which have historically been extremely difficult to access."

ETF Securities listed the world's first-ever ETC in 2003 and also the first entire ETC platform, which was launched on the London Stock Exchange in 2006.

It has since listed the products on Europe's main exchanges - Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Italy - with each one creating a separate ETC segment.

Source:

DJ ETF Securities To Launch 4 Precious Metals ETFs In Australia (19/11/08)
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2037324/

About Us (20/11/08)
http://www.etfsecurities.com/en/other/etfs_aboutus.asp