Exchange-traded shares of three Vanguard Group Inc. international index funds are to commence trading on the American Stock Exchange at 9:30 this morning, the company announced Wednesday.
The new so-called Viper shares are to have expense ratios as low as 0.18% - considerably below the ratios of the 43 international exchange-traded products now available - according to information from the Investment Company Institute cited by the Valley Forge, Pa., fund company.
The three international Vipers track Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. benchmark indexes for Europe; the Pacific region; and emerging markets in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The latter has an expense ratio of 0.30%; the other two, 0.18%.
The addition of the international Vipers brings Vanguard's exchange-traded fund lineup to 23 portfolios, with nine tracking broad domestic stock markets, 11 tracking specific domestic stock sectors, and three tracking broad international stock markets.
Vanguard, the nation's second-largest mutual fund company, said it has amassed nearly $7 billion of assets in Vipers since it started its first one in 2001, a fivefold increase at Feb. 28 from the total two years before. It manages more than $830 billion of U.S. mutual fund assets, in 129 portfolios.
