March ETF Stats Part 1

In like a lamb, out like a lion is an old adage applied to the month of March, but when it comes to ETFs, the lion roared for nearly the entire month. At least when it comes to new product introductions. Thirty-eight new funds found their way to market last month and the total of exchange traded products trading on U.S. exchanges is now approaching 1,200. Global X was among the most active issuers last month, introducing five new

, including the Global X Argentina ETF

, the Global X Oil Equities ETF

and the Global X Pure Gold Miners ETF

. PowerShares was no slouch either, rolling out seven new funds including the PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio

and a suite of ETFs offering exposure to German, Italian and Japanese debt. Other noteworthy new ETFs to hit the market in March included the Market Vectors Colombia ETF

, the second Colombia-specific ETF, the IQ Global Agribusiness Small Cap ETF

, the first small-cap pure-play ETF on the agriculture sector, and the WisdomTree Asia Local Debt Fund

, an actively managed ETF which has already accumulated $150 million in assets under management. At the end of March, FocusShares rolled out a suite of 15 new ETFs and iShares, the largest U.S. ETF issuer, introduced the iShares High Dividend Equity Fund

. The flow of filings for new ETFs was also robust in March with Global X filing for five new funds during the month and IndexIQ announcing plans for 11 new ETFs. Emerging Global Advisors announced plans for nine new India-specific ETFs and a low-beta dividend ETF. First Trust, Market Vectors and ProShares were among the issuers to also announce plans for new ETFs in March.