Last week was a busy one for exchange-traded fund (ETF) launches. Five new ETFs hit the market, many of which focused upon materials.

Global X Management launched three new funds: Global X S&P/TSX Venture 30 Canada (NYSE: TSXV), Global X Oil Equities (NYSE: XOIL) and Global X Pure Gold Miners (NYSE: GGGG).

Of these three ETFs, Global X Oil Equities is the most compelling. Although there’s nothing new about the concept of an oil ETF, this fund tracks the Solactive Global Oil Equities Index, which is made up of 25 global oil exploration and production outfits whose stocks have shown the highest correlation to the spot price of oil. Although this won’t be a perfect proxy for the price of crude oil, it’s about as close as an investor can get without holding futures or investing in an exchange-traded note (ETN). Futures expose investors to the risk of “contango”–in which the futures price exceeds the future spot price–and ETNs carry their own unique drawbacks. In addition, the fund’s expense ratio is 0.49 percent, a very reasonable cost for a highly specialized fund.

But don’t jump into this fund–or any new fund–just because it employs a novel strategy. The fund’s average daily volume is still measured in the hundreds of shares, making them easy to purchase but difficult to sell. Nonetheless, I intend to monitor this fund closely in the coming months.  

Established gold mining stocks generally correlate well with the spot price of gold. But achieving that correlation isn’t the stated goal of Global X Pure Gold Miners. The fund’s benchmark, Solative Global Pure Gold Miners Index, excludes firms that are heavily involved in the mining of other metals. That’s a nice touch.

I’m agnostic toward Global X S&P/TSX Venture 30 Canada. It tracks an index of smaller, materials-oriented outfits and the energy sector accounts for 46 percent of the fund’s assets. If you’re looking for materials exposure–particularly in Canada–this could be an interesting opportunity.

WisdomTree Investments launched WisdomTree Asia Local Debt Fund (NYSE: ALD) last week. I was concerned that the ongoing crisis in Japan might make it difficult for the fund to get off the ground. However, I discovered that this Asian debt fund excludes Japan entirely. At present, the fund has exposure to local currency debt issued in South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines. It also includes allocations to Australia and New Zealand. The fund will use a tiered portfolio; the largest and most liquid debt markets will receive a heavier weighting, though no single country will be weighted more than 20 percent.

This is an extremely attractive fund. Asian countries on the whole have solid balance sheets and offer attractive yield opportunities. US-based investors, who have seen their own returns languish over the past few years, should give this fund another look.

Finally, Van Eck Associates launched Market Vectors Columbia (NYSE: COLX), the second ETF to offer pure-play Columbian exposure–the first fund to do so was Global X’s InterBolsa FTSE Columbia 20 (NYSE: GXG).

The Columbian government has made great strides toward cleaning up the country and has aggressively pursued  rebel groups and drug traffickers. The nation does enjoy a significant volume of international trade with much of the world–though notably little with Asia. It has also taken action to bolster its equity markets.

These encouraging developments notwithstanding, I don’t consider Columbia an attractive investment destination. The poverty rate remains extremely high and the country lacks even basic infrastructure. Additionally, both Columbia-focused ETFs have heavy exposure to the country’s financials sector, which is fraught with risk.