State Street Global Advisors’ (SSgA) SPDR S&P Small Cap Emerging Asia Pacific ETF (symbol:GMFS) began trading on the NYSE Arca on 12 January, 2012. The first emerging Asia Pacific small cap ETF, the new fund provides investors with access to companies poised to benefit from the growth of emerging Asia's middle class. Its annual expense ratio is 0.65 per cent.

The SPDR S&P Small Cap Emerging Asia Pacific ETF seeks to track the performance of the S&P Asia Pacific Emerging Under $2 Billion Index. The Index is a float-adjusted market capitalisation weighted benchmark that includes publicly listed companies with a total market capitalisation between $100 million and $2 billion. Each individual stock is capped at a maximum of 25 per cent of the index weight, and the top five stocks are capped at a maximum of 50 per cent of the index weight. Among the countries historically covered in the Index are China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. As of December 31, 2011, the Index was comprised of 1,455 securities.

"Emerging market small cap stocks are an attractive opportunity for many investors, as broad emerging market equity funds are often dominated by large cap companies that rely on developed world demand," says James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors. "In providing investors with precise access to an asset class with the potential to provide portfolio growth and diversification benefits, the SPDR S&P Small Cap Emerging Asia Pacific ETF enhances our family of emerging market SPDR ETFs, which includes the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF."