First silver ETF listing gets the go-ahead
First silver ETF listing gets the go-ahead
By Chris Flood and Kevin Morrison
Published: April 27 2006 19:42 | Last updated: April 27 2006 19:42. Copyright by The Financial Times
The long-awaited go-ahead for the listing of the world’s first silver-backed exchange-traded fund came on Thursday after the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US regulator, approved plans by Barclays Global Investors to list its iShares silver trust on the American Stock Exchange.
Barclays said it would list the new tracker fund on Friday. The iShares silver trust is designed to attract more investors to the silver market, without them having to worry about buying the physical metal or buying silver mining shares.
The market has been anticipating the launch of the Barclays Global Investors silver ETF ever since the bank made an application last autumn to the SEC for approval of the new investment product. It has been the biggest single factor behind the strong rally in silver prices over the last eight months. Barclays placed 1.5m ounces of silver with a custodian recently to back up the ETF.
Since September, investors have pushed silver prices up more than 120 per cent to reach a 23-year record high of $14.68 a troy ounce last week.
Thursday’s decision by the SEC removes any further regulatory hurdles, and investors responded by pushing the silver price up to an intra-day peak of $13.08 before trading at $12.86 in late London trade on Thursday, or six cents higher on the day.
Gold-backed ETFs have proved popular with some investors, but analysts are concerned that the silver market is not as large as gold. If there was strong investor demand for the silver ETF, it could put a squeeze on the availability of silver inventories, pushing up prices further
By Chris Flood and Kevin Morrison
Published: April 27 2006 19:42 | Last updated: April 27 2006 19:42. Copyright by The Financial Times
The long-awaited go-ahead for the listing of the world’s first silver-backed exchange-traded fund came on Thursday after the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US regulator, approved plans by Barclays Global Investors to list its iShares silver trust on the American Stock Exchange.
Barclays said it would list the new tracker fund on Friday. The iShares silver trust is designed to attract more investors to the silver market, without them having to worry about buying the physical metal or buying silver mining shares.
The market has been anticipating the launch of the Barclays Global Investors silver ETF ever since the bank made an application last autumn to the SEC for approval of the new investment product. It has been the biggest single factor behind the strong rally in silver prices over the last eight months. Barclays placed 1.5m ounces of silver with a custodian recently to back up the ETF.
Since September, investors have pushed silver prices up more than 120 per cent to reach a 23-year record high of $14.68 a troy ounce last week.
Thursday’s decision by the SEC removes any further regulatory hurdles, and investors responded by pushing the silver price up to an intra-day peak of $13.08 before trading at $12.86 in late London trade on Thursday, or six cents higher on the day.
Gold-backed ETFs have proved popular with some investors, but analysts are concerned that the silver market is not as large as gold. If there was strong investor demand for the silver ETF, it could put a squeeze on the availability of silver inventories, pushing up prices further
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