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Market Vectors Africa Index ETF, $32.10, symbol AFK on New York (Units outstanding: 4.0 million; Market cap: $128.4 million; www.vaneck.com), aims to match the performance of the Market Vectors GDP Africa Index. This index tracks the performance of the largest and most liquid companies in Africa. A country’s weighting in the index is determined by the size of its gross domestic product. The ETF’s top holdings are Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE, Guaranty Trust Bank plc (Nigeria: banking), Acergy SA (U.K.: offshore oilfield services), Zenith Bank plc (Nigeria: banking), Orascom Telecom Holding SAE (Egypt: telecom), Nigerian Breweries plc, Naspers Ltd. (South Africa: media and Internet), Talaast Moustafa Group (Egypt: real estate), Attijarwafa Bank (Morocco: banking) and Tullow plc (U.K.: oil and gas)....

We think conservative investors could hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is to buy carefully chosen exchange traded funds (ETFs) that have an overseas focus. The best ETFs offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of highquality stocks. Here’s a look at six global ETFs:...

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $16.64 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 5.0%. The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 19.3%, followed by H&R REIT (14.7%), Canadian REIT (7.8%), Dream Office REIT (7.0%), Calloway REIT (6.4%), Boardwalk REIT (6.3%), Canadian Apartment REIT (6.2%), Allied Properties REIT (5.8%), Cominar REIT (5.4%), Artis REIT (5.0%), Chartwell REIT (4.6%), Granite REIT (4.5%), Crombie REIT (2.4%), Northern Property REIT (2.2%) and Dream Global REIT (2.1%)....

ISHARES S&P INDIA NIFTY 50 INDEX FUND $30.98 (Nasdaq symbol INDY; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that aims to invest in the 50 largest, most liquid Indian securities. Indian stocks have moved up steadily since the May 2014 election of Narendra Modi as prime minister. India still needs to modernize its transportation,communications and electrical infrastructure. It also needs to reform its inefficient, corrupt bureaucracy....

ISHARES AUSTRALIA INDEX FUND $27.34 (New York symbol EWA; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that holds the 72 largest Australian stocks. Its MER is 0.48%. The fund’s top holdings include Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 11.1%; BHP Billiton, 10.0%; Westpac Banking Corp., 9.2%; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, 7.8%; National Australia Bank, 6.9%; Wesfarmers, 4.3%; Woolworths, 3.9%; CSL Ltd., 3.1%; Woodside Petroleum, 2.4%; Rio Tinto, 2.3%; Telstra Group, 2.0%, Macquarie Group, 1.4%; and Westfield Group, 1.3%. Australia benefits from its stable banking and political systems. It is also rich in natural resources and close to key Asian markets with vast potential, including India and China....

ISHARES FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25 INDEX FUND $40.21 (New York symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) is an exchange traded fund that aims to track the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index, which is made up of the 25 largest, most liquid Chinese stocks. All of the stocks in the index trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Some also trade as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on New York.

The fund’s top holdings are Tencent Holdings, 10.2%; China Construction Bank, 8.4%; China Mobile, 8.3%; Industrial & Commercial Bank, 6.9%; Bank of China, 5.4%; China Overseas Land & Investment, 4.3%; China Life, 4.0%; Ping An Insurance, 4.0%; China Shenhua Energy, 3.9%; PetroChina, 4.2%; China Merchants Bank, 3.7%; and CNOOC Ltd., 3.7%.

The fund’s holdings give it the following industry breakdown: Financials, 54.1%; Telecommunications, 14.4%; Oil and Gas, 12.1%; Technology, 10.1%; Basic Materials, 4.0%; Industrials, 1.8%; and Consumer Goods, 1.7%. Its expense ratio is 0.73%.

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ISHARES DEX UNIVERSE BOND INDEX FUND $31.05 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XBB; buy or sell through brokers) mirrors the performance of the DEX Universe Bond Index. The 821 bonds in the portfolio have an average term-to-maturity of 10.13 years. The fund’s MER is 0.33%.

The bonds in the index are 68.2% government and 31.8% corporate.

The fund yields 3.1%, compared to the Short-Term Bond Fund’s 2.6%. Its yield-to-maturity is 2.37%, 0.79% above the Short-Term Fund. That reflects the added risk of holding long-term bonds.

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ISHARES DEX SHORT-TERM BOND INDEX FUND $28.63 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XSB; buy or sell through brokers) mirrors the performance of the DEX Short-Term Bond Index.

This index consists of a wide range of investmentgrade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds with between one- and five-year terms to maturity. The fund holds 386 bonds with an average term to maturity of 2.98 years. The bonds in the index are 60.7% government and 39.3% corporate. The fund’s MER is 0.28%.

iShares DEX Short-Term Bond Index Fund yields 2.6%. However, this high yield is due to the fact that some of the fund’s bonds pay above-market interest rates. As a result, they trade above their face value. When these bonds mature, holders will only get the bonds’ face value, which means the portfolio will incur predictable capital losses. These losses will offset some of the appeal of the above-market yields.

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Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice on a wide range of topics, including strategies for international stock markets. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Foreign investments can give your portfolio greater strength and diversity and we recommend three ways you can do this with less risk.” We believe most investors could benefit from holding some foreign investments in their portfolios for added diversification. And growing markets like China and India have positive long-term outlooks. Their populations are generally younger than those in North America, and rising incomes are helping more of them advance into the middle class....

Canada’s inflation rate has risen to 1.8%, but it’s still below the Bank of Canada’s 2% target. This should let the bank keep interest rates low, which holds down our dollar, making our exports cheaper in world markets. That’s good for Canada’s economic growth. Even so, the long-term outlook is for higher interest rates. That’s because heavy deficit spending and the expansion of the money supply in the past few years make higher inflation more likely. We continue to advise against investing in bonds right now. That’s because today’s low interest rates make bonds unattractive, and rising rates would push down their future value....