Market Vectors Plans First Nigeria ETF

Van Eck Global, the parent company of Market Vectors, filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week to introduce the Market Vectors Nigeria ETF, which would be, assuming it comes it market, the first ETF devoted exclusively to the African nation. The ETF will track the Market Vectors Nigeria Index, but the filing did not disclose a ticker or an expense ratio for the new fund. Nigeria has frontier markets designation from both FTSE and MSCI and if the ETF comes to market, it would be the third country-specific play on a frontier market following the Market Vectors Vietnam ETF VNM and the Global X Argentina ETF ARGT. To this point, only two ETFs, the Guggenheim Frontier Markets ETF FRN and Market Vectors Africa Index Fund AFK offer Nigeria exposure, but a country-specific fund for the country is probably a viable idea. After all, the Nigeria is an OPEC member, one of the top exporters of oil to the U.S. and vies with Angola for the top spot among Africa's oil producers. According to data from the International Monetary Fund, Nigeria had a bigger GDP in 2010 than Sweden, the Philippines, Switzerland, Austria, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Chile, among others, and all of those countries have corresponding ETFs. Van Eck had 34 ETFs on the market at the end of May with $23 billion in assets under management.