ishares

ISHARES CHINA LARGE-CAP ETF $46.23 (New York symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) holds the 50 largest, most-liquid Chinese stocks. Its MER is 0.74%.

The ETF’s top holdings include Tencent Holdings, China Mobile, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Ping An Insurance, and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp.

Recent political events in China add risk for this ETF....

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $16.23 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds all 16 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX REIT Index. The fund’s MER is 0.61%, and it yields 4.5%.

The ETF’s top ten holdings are RioCan REIT at 17.4%, H&R REIT (13.5%), Canadian Apartment Proper...

These six ETFs mostly hold high-quality stocks that are widely traded on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. Each fund mirrors, or tracks, the performance of a major stock market index. That’s different from ETFs focused on narrower indexes or themes such as solar power and biotechnology....

In 2011, gold shot up to a high of $1,950 U.S. an ounce, and silver reached a peak of $48.58.

Gold prices then fell steadily, dropping to $1,050 an ounce in December 2015 for the first time since early 2010. Silver also declined to a five-year low of $13.65 an ounce....

ISHARES INDIA 50 ETF $35.29 (Nasdaq symbol INDY; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that tracks the Nifty 50 index—the 50 largest, most liquid Indian securities. It began trading in November 2009.

The fund’s top holdings are Housing Development Finance, 7.5%; Reliance Industries (conglomerate), 7.2%; ITC (conglomerate), 6.4%; ICICI Bank, 5.1%; HDFC Bank, 5.0%; Infosys (information technology), 4.9%; Larsen & Toubro (conglomerate), 3.7%; and Tata Consultancy (information technology), 3.5%....

We think conservative investors can hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is by choosing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus.

The best ETFs continue to offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of highquality stocks.

Here’s a look at four international ETFs we see as buys, and two we feel you should continue to hold.

ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX FUND $44.86 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

The fund’s geographic breakdown includes China, 28.9%; South Korea, 14.6%; Taiwan, 11.8%; India, 8.5%; Brazil, 7.3%; South Africa, 6.4%; Mexico, 3.6%; Russia, 3.1%; Indonesia, 2.3%; Malaysia, 2.2%; Thailand, 2.1%; and Poland, 1.3%.

Its top holdings are Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 4.7%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 4.1%; Alibaba Group (China: e-commerce), 3.9%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 3.5%; Naspers (South Africa: media and Internet), 2.0%; China Construction Bank, 1.5%; China Mobile, 1.4%; Hon Hai Precision (Taiwan), 1.2%; Baidu (China: Internet), 1.2%; and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 1.1%.

iShares launched the ETF on April 7, 2003....

A: Samsung Electronics trades on the South Korean Exchange under the symbol KRX:005930. It doesn’t appear that you can buy the stock on that exchange through any Canadian discount brokers, including TD.

The shares do trade on the U.S. over-the-counter market under the symbol SSNLF, and you can place a phone order with TD Direct Investing to buy it....

The Bank of Canada increased interest rates in July 2017 for the first time since 2010. Its key interest rate rose from 0.50% to 0.75%. The bank’s next opportunity to raise rates is in September 2017. Whether it will do so is uncertain.


The Canadian economy continues to expand faster than expected—it’s now projected to increase by 2.8% this year, up from the 1.3% growth of 2016....

These six ETFs mostly hold high-quality stocks that are widely traded on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. Each fund mirrors, or tracks, the performance of a major stock market index. That’s different from ETFs focused on narrower indexes or themes such as solar power and biotechnology.


Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these ETFs....

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $53.40 (New York Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan index.


The fund’s top holdings include Toyota, 4.2%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 2.5%; Softbank Corp., 2.1%; KDDI Corp....