Italy is to see a new exchange traded fund (ETF) launched for a variety of metals including platinum, it has been revealed.

ETF Securities, which has recently launched a successful platinum ETF in London, has announced that it will today launch a number of similar funds for the Italian trading bourse.

According to the company, these ETFs will be backed by physical metal holdings in gold, silver, platinum and palladium, reports Resource Investor.

The move is likely to further tighten demand for the platinum group metals (pgms) and will raise further concerns that the ETFs will tip the balance between supply and demand.

Some of the largest platinum miners initially resisted the ETF concept altogether, but now a number of platinum and palladium ETFs have been established and have so far proven successful.

Resource Investor reports that there remains no further information as to whether an ETF will be launched in the US, after it was reported last month that a platinum ETF had been called off by a US bank.

Source:
ETF Securities to launch metal basket in Italy, including platinum, 19/06/07
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=33138
Note: This link contains information on the platinum market from Johnson Matthey's which is out of date. For the latest Johnson  Matthey view click on the link in the image caption (right).

ETF Securities will tomorrow launch an exchange-traded precious metals platform backed by physical metal on the Borsa Italiana, 20/06/07
http://www.etfsecurities.com/en/news/etfs_news_070619.asp

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