By Murray Coleman
Dow Jones Newswires is reporting that ETF Securities has been give a green light by regulators to launch exchange-traded ?commodities? funds in London that physically store copper, nickel and tin.
A tentative launch date has been set for Friday, according to details provided in the report.
While it doesn?t directly impact investors in the U.S. who?ve anxiously been awaiting the first physically stored copper ETF, the news does lend some light on a huge surge in buying that has taken place in the metals markets.
A U.K. paper reported earlier that an unnamed buyer had grabbed between 50%-80% of copper available through the London Metal Exchange. That buyer was reported to be J.P. Morgan (JPM), which has also been working on coming up with its own copper ETF-like product.
An ETF Securities official wouldn?t disclose Tuesday whether the company was the one which had made such large purchases.
Others such as BlackRock (BLK) and Deutsche Bank (DB) are also racing to come out with the first ETF in the U.S. to physically hold copper.
A new copper ETF is likely to increase prices to $4.50 per pound, according to estimates by RBS Global Banking & Markets.
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