The race to Peru has been won by iShares, as it launches an ETF focused on that part of the world.

With a global start-up preparing to launch the first exchange-traded fund focused on Peru in coming weeks, industry giant Barclays Global Investors has sneaked to the finish line.

On Monday, the soon-to-be BlackRock Global Investors opened the iShares MSCI All Peru Capped Index (NYSE Arca: EPU). It follows an earlier announcement by fledgling Global X Management Co. of a similar ETF. But that fund hasn't come out yet, although it's expected to launch soon.

According to a BGI statement, Peru is Latin America's fastest-growing economy, with a gross domestic product growth rate of more than 9% last year. The firm added that in May, emerging markets net inflow of $14.9 billion into ETFs included some $6 billion from ETF investors.

“With the fastest growing economy in Latin America and one of

June 3 (Bloomberg) — Peru’s first Exchange Traded Fund will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange by the “middle of June,” said the chief executive officer of Global X Management Company LLC, a New York-based asset manager.

“The stock market has risen a lot, investors are bullish, and that’s helping us,” Bruno del Ama, the New York-based CEO of Global X, said in a phone interview. “We’re giving access to the Peruvian market and in the future people can go short in Peru, which is an option that doesn’t exist today.”

Global X and Barclays Plc have been competing to introduce the first Peruvian ETF, aiming to lure global investors to the world’s best performing stock market this year. The funds issue a number of shares and trade throughout the day like stocks. Most are designed to passively

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