Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) will continue to track the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index after the index constituents and weightings are updated by the index provider in late September.
GDX has sought to track the index since the fund’s inception in 2006 and has since become the world’s largest gold miner-focused exchange-traded fund.
“After reviewing the improved methodology, we are pleased with the planned changes and expect them to be beneficial for investors,” says Brandon Rakszawski, product manager with Market Vectors. “By moving to allow for the inclusion of non-US listed companies, we believe the Index will better capture the global nature of the gold mining industry. Additionally, by increasing the minimum market cap for inclusion in the Index, the overall liquidity of GDX holdings may be improved.”
The new methodology underlying the Index was announced by NYSE Euronext on 9 August 2013 and will be effective on 20 September 2013, coinciding with the rebalance of the Index after close of markets that day.
GDX, part of Market Vectors’ family of Hard Assets ETFs, had total net assets of USD6.3bn as of 31 August 2013. The fund has a gross expense ratio of 0.52 per cent and a net expense ratio of 0.52 per cent, with the fund’s expenses capped at 0.53 per cent until 1 May 2014. Cap excludes certain expenses, such as interest.
