etf

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $17.25 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 13 Canadian real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of any one REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.55% of its assets. The fund yields 4.3%.

RioCan REIT is the fund’s largest holding at 22.0%, followed by H&R REIT (12.2%), Dundee REIT (8.9%), Canadian REIT (7.7%), Calloway REIT (7.5%), Boardwalk REIT (6.8%), Cominar REIT (6.4%), Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (6.2%), Primaris Retail REIT (5.7%), Artis REIT (5.0%), Allied Properties REIT (4.5%), Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT (2.9%), and Northern Property REIT (2.8%).

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GUGGENHEIM CHINA SMALL CAP ETF $19.04 (New York Exchange symbol HAO; buy or sell through brokers; www.guggenheimfunds.com) aims to track the AlphaShares China Small Cap Index, which is made up of all Chinese stocks that are legal for foreign investors and have market caps between $200 million and $1.5 billion.

The $155.7-million fund’s top holdings are Shimao Property Holdings, 1.7%; Longfor Properties, 1.6%; Sino-Ocean Land Holding, 1.5%; Guangdong Investment, 1.5%; Tsingtao Brewery Co., 1.4%; China Railway Group, 1.4%; China Railway Construction Corp., 1.4%; Zoomlion Heavy Industry, 1.4%; Agile Property Holdings, 1.3%; and China State Construction International Holdings, 1.2%.

As China’s economy matures, domestic spending should continue to rise. As well, China’s leaders will likely need to increase spending on programs and services to ease the growing gap between the rich and poor. Guggenheim China Small Cap ETF is well positioned to benefit from both of these trends.

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SPDR S&P CHINA ETF $63.27 (New York Exchange symbol GXC; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) is an exchange traded fund that aims to track the S&P China BMI Index, which is made up of all the publicly traded Chinese stocks that are available to foreign investors. Right now, SPDR S&P China ETF holds 184 stocks.

The $783.8-million fund’s top holdings are China Mobile, 9.1%; China Construction Bank, 6.9%; Baidu, 5.1%; CNOOC, 4.8%; Industrial & Commercial Bank, 4.7%; Tencent Holdings, 4.5%; Petro- China, 4.0%; Bank of China, 3.6%; China Life Insurance, 3.2%; and China Petroleum & Chemical, 2.3%.

The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Financials, 31.7%; Oil and Gas, 15.2%; Information Technology, 13.2%; Telecommunication Services, 10.1%; Industrials, 10.4%; Consumer Staples, 5.0%; Consumer Discretionary, 4.3%; Basic Materials, 4.0%; Utilities, 2.8%; and Health Care, 1.7%.

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Our view is that virtually all Canadian investors could add some foreign exchange traded funds (ETFs), such as those we recommend in Canadian Wealth Advisor, in reasonable quantities: perhaps 10% of your holdings if you are a conservative investor (including 5% or so in higher-risk funds, such as emerging market ETFs). That includes the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 ETF, $34.46, symbol FXI on New York (Shares outstanding: 135.6 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion), and the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF, $41.35, symbol VWO on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $53.8 billion). Canadian Wealth Advisor views both of these funds as buys. The Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF, $33.00, symbol VEA on New York (Shares outstanding: 266.0 million; Market cap: $8.8 billion), invests in the developed markets of the 16 European (64% of assets) and five Pacific Rim countries (36%) included in the MSCI EAFE Index....

Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF, $50.08, symbol MOO on New York (Shares outstanding: 110.9 million; Market cap: $5.6 billion; www.vaneck.com), aims to track the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index. The index includes agricultural companies from around the world. To be included in the index, a company must be publicly traded, have a market cap over $150 million U.S. and meet certain minimum trading volume rules. The index contains five major subsectors: agriculture chemicals and fertilizers, agricultural product operations, agricultural equipment, livestock operations, and biofuels (including ethanol and biodiesel). The geographic breakdown of stocks in the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index is as follows: U.S. (39.7%), Canada (13.8%), Singapore (9.0%), Switzerland (7.2%), Malaysia (5.9%), Brazil (4.4%), the Netherlands (3.7%), Japan (3.6%), Norway (3.6%), Australia (2.5%) and other countries (6.6%)....

You might say we specialize in “plain vanilla” stocks, bonds and mutual funds—the ordinary kind, in other words, without any special features. We almost always stay out of new issues. We’ve always been highly selective in our income trust and royalty trust recommendations. We advise against trading in options and futures. The only investment innovation we’ve added to our list is the exchange-traded fund or ETF. But ETFs are unlike other investment innovations; they aim to simplify your investing, rather than complicate it. Of course, we stay out of ETFs that use leverage, or that aim to pursue some sort of market theory, or that invest in a narrow market segment or theme. We’ve found that our exclusionary rules leave us plenty of scope for sound investing, with lots of high-value opportunities and few surprises. In investment innovations, surprises tend to be unpleasant. That’s because innovations aim at selling more “product” (as brokers say) to investors, rather than raising investor returns. In fact, innovations may give you greater stability, steady income or tax deferral, but you generally pay for these advantages out of total investment return....

Chinese stocks are down roughly 14% since March 2012. That’s largely because slow growth in the U.S. and Europe is hurting China’s export-driven economy. Still, China’s growth rate could reach 8% this year, and its long-term outlook is positive. Here are two Chinese exchange traded fund (ETF) recommendations. One invests in all publicly traded Chinese stocks available to foreign investors. The other holds small cap Chinese stocks. SPDR S&P CHINA ETF $63.27 (New York Exchange symbol GXC; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) is an exchange traded fund that aims to track the S&P China BMI Index, which is made up of all the publicly traded Chinese stocks that are available to foreign investors. Right now, SPDR S&P China ETF holds 184 stocks....

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $17.25 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 13 Canadian real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of any one REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value. iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.55% of its assets. The fund yields 4.3%. RioCan REIT is the fund’s largest holding at 22.0%, followed by H&R REIT (12.2%), Dundee REIT (8.9%), Canadian REIT (7.7%), Calloway REIT (7.5%), Boardwalk REIT (6.8%), Cominar REIT (6.4%), Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (6.2%), Primaris Retail REIT (5.7%), Artis REIT (5.0%), Allied Properties REIT (4.5%), Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT (2.9%), and Northern Property REIT (2.8%)....

Emerging markets continue to have sound longterm outlooks. A good way to profit from their growth with less risk is through low-fee exchange traded funds (ETFs). Here are two we see as buys. ISHARES S&P INDIA NIFTY 50 INDEX FUND $21.48 (Nasdaq symbol INDY; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that aims to track the S&P CNX Nifty Index, which represents the 50 largest, most liquid Indian securities. The fund’s top holdings are ITC Ltd. (conglomerate), 8.6%; Reliance Industries Ltd. (conglomerate), 7.5%; ICICI Bank, 6.9%; HDFC Bank, 6.6%; Infosys Technologies (software), 6.6%; Housing Development Finance, 6.3%; Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (conglomerate), 4.5%; Tata Consultancy Services (information technology), 3.9%; and State Bank of India, 3.3%....

ISHARES AUSTRALIA INDEX FUND $22.18 (New York symbol EWA; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that holds the 73 largest Australian stocks. Its MER is 0.52%.

The fund’s top holdings include BHP Billiton, 12.2%; Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 10.1%; Westpac Banking Corp., 7.8%; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, 7.0%; National Australia Bank, 6.4%; Woolworths, 4.0%; Rio Tinto, 3.0%; Westfield Group, 2.5%; and CSL Ltd., 2.5%.

Australia benefits from its stable banking and political systems. It is also rich in natural resources, and it’s close to key Asian markets, including India and China.

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