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Sunday, December 21, 2008

22 new ComStage ETFs launched on Xetra

Deutsche Börse is further expanding its XTF segment for exchange-traded index funds (ETFs) on the pan-European Xetra® trading platform and has admitted 22 new ETFs issued by ComStage, a Commerzbank subsidiary, to trading.

17 of the 22 new ComStage ETFs are based on the MSCI index family. These equity indices are globally accessible for investing and are segmented by size, type and sector. They are weighted by freefloat market capitalization and track the performance of international equity markets based on total return with net dividends reinvested.

Five of these indices are tradable in Europe for the first time. The MSCI Pacific TRN tracks share performance of five developed equity markets in the Asia-Pacific region: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore.
The MSCI Pacific ex Japan TRN tracks the same markets with the exception of Japan.

With the two ComStage ETFs MSCI USA Mid Cap TRN and MSCI Small Cap TRN, investors can invest in US mid-cap and US small-cap companies for the first time. The MSCI USA Mid Cap index tracks 15 percent and the MSCI USA Small Cap index 12 percent of US market capitalization.

Moreover, the MSCI Russia 30% Capped index is now tradable in Europe. This index comprises the components of the Russian standard index MSCI Russia and tracks the performance of Russian companies. An upper limit of 30 percent on the basis of closing prices each trading day applies for the weighting of its components.

In addition to the 17 ETFs on the MSCI indices, ComStage has launched five additional funds and had them listed on Xetra. They are based on the Swiss blue-chip index SMI®, the Tokyo stock exchange’s TOPIX®, the Vienna stock exchange’s ATX® as well as the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50® Short and Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50® Leveraged indices.

The product offering on Xetra in the XTF segment currently comprises a total of 399 exchange-traded index funds, making it the largest offering of all European stock exchanges. This selection, together with an average monthly trading volume of over €10 billion, makes Deutsche Börse’s XTF segment Europe’s leading trading venue for ETFs.

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