ETF Securities, a global issuer of commodity exchange-traded products, has announced plans to list a range of physically-backed precious metal exchange-traded commodities on the Australian Stock Exchange.

This is the first time that silver, platinum, palladium or a precious metals basket have been made available to Australian investors through ordinary brokerage accounts.

ETF Securities has also formally completed the acquisition of the world's first gold ETC, Gold Bullion Securities, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

The four metal securities to be listed are ETFS Physical Platinum, ETFS Physical Palladium, ETFS Physical Silver and ETFS Physical PM Basket.

The first dealings in the securities are expected to commence on the Australian Stock Exchange in December.

ETF Securities chairman Graham Tuckwell says: 'Our decision to launch this range of precious metals is twofold. First, it comes in the wake of increasing global demand for precious metals through ETCs, which have seen steady growth over the last four years to over AUD38bn. Second, we want to offer investors exposure to a broad range of precious metals, which have historically been extremely difficult to access.'

ETCs are designed to offer investors a simple, cost-efficient and secure way to access the precious metals market. They provide investors with a return equivalent to movements in their spot price less a small annual management fee, which accrues daily.

Similar to exchange-traded funds, ETCs are open-ended securities, which can be created or redeemed on demand (by market-makers) provided the relevant amount of metal is delivered to the custodian.