State Street launches BRIC ETF

State Street Global Advisors said that its SPDR Standard & Poor's BRIC 40 ETF will begin trading on the American Stock Exchange today. The new ETF seeks to track the S&P BRIC 40 index, which includes 40 leading companies, representing the largest and most liquid securities in Brazil, Russia, India, and China—which is an acronym for BRIC. The fund trades under the "BIK" ticker symbol and carries an expense ratio of 0.40%, which each of the fund's holding trading on developed market exchanges. "The launch of SPDR S&P BRIC 40 ETF reflects the significant interest that we are seeing from financial advisers and institutional investors in this particular segment of emerging markets," said James Ross, senior managing director of State Street Global Advisors, according to a statement. "In providing easy, low cost, precise exposure to the BRIC countries, it helps to diversify and expand our offering of emerging markets ETFs." State Street Global Advisors managed $114 billion of ETF assets as of March 31. SSgA is a subsidiary of Boston-based State Street Corp.