ishares

ISHARES S&P INDIA NIFTY 50 INDEX FUND $19.09 (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 stocks held by most emerging market ETFs have weakened this year, but the iShares S&P India Fund has been hit especially hard.

That’s because the Indian currency, the rupee, has fallen sharply. It’s down more than 31% against the U.S. dollar since January of this year. That fall cuts the value of declining Indian stocks even further for foreign investors.
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Most precious metals stocks dropped when gold fell to $1,200 U.S. an ounce and silver declined to $18.50 U.S. an ounce in June 2013. Both metals have rebounded somewhat lately, with gold now at $1,371 and silver at $22.92. Here are two low-fee exchange traded funds that offer global gold and silver miners....

ISHARES S&P INDIA NIFTY 50 INDEX FUND $19.09 (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 stocks held by most emerging market ETFs have weakened this year, but the iShares S&P India Fund has been hit especially hard.

That’s because the Indian currency, the rupee, has fallen sharply....

Most precious metals stocks dropped when gold fell to $1,200 U.S. an ounce and silver declined to $18.50 U.S. an ounce in June 2013. Both metals have rebounded somewhat lately, with gold rising to $1,394 and silver to $23.55.

Gold and silver could well regain their early 2011 highs ($1,900 for gold and $48.48 for silver) and move up even further in the longer term, but they will likely remain volatile....

The U.S. is the sole country worldwide that requires its citizens to file an income tax return and report any income regardless of where they live or whether they hold dual citizenship in another country. That’s unlike Canada, which mainly bases its tax system on country of residence, like most other nations. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that five to seven million American citizens reside abroad. Of that total, about one million live in Canada. Most U.S. citizens paying income taxes in Canada pay no additional U.S. income tax. However, they still have U.S. tax filing and compliance requirements....

ISHARES DOW JONES CANADA SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $22.31 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds 30 of the highest-yielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of its assets. The fund’s MER is 0.50%. It yields 4.5%.

The fund’s top holdings are Bonterra Energy, 6.5%; CIBC, 6.3%; National Bank, 5.9%; TD Bank, 5.7%; Bank of Montreal, 5.3%; Royal Bank, 4.5%; IGM Financial, 4.4%; Telus Corp., 4.2%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.1%; and BCE Inc., 4.0%.

The fund holds 53.4% of its assets in financial stocks. The top Canadian finance stocks have sound prospects. However, if you invest in this ETF, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so it won’t be overly concentrated in the financial sector.
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ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $17.88 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.2%; TD Bank, 7.1%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.2%; Suncor Energy, 4.5%; CN Railway, 3.9%; Bank of Montreal, 3.7%; Enbridge, 3.4%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.2%; TransCanada Corporation, 3.0%; Manulife Financial, 3.0%; BCE, 2.9%; CIBC, 2.8%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 2.8%; Potash Corp., 2.3%; Cenovus Energy, 2.0%; and Goldcorp, 2.0%.
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ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $15.05 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of each REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 5.2%.

The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 19.4%, followed by H&R REIT (14.5%), Dundee REIT (8.3%), Canadian REIT (7.4%), Calloway REIT (6.7%), Cominar REIT (6.1%), Boardwalk REIT (5.9%), Canadian Apartment REIT (5.7%), Allied Properties REIT (5.5%), Artis REIT (4.8%), Chartwell REIT (4.4%), Granite REIT (4.3%), Dundee International REIT (2.3%), Northern Property REIT (2.3%) and Crombie REIT (1.9%).
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iShares S&P/TSX Capped Utilities Fund, $18.29, symbol XUT on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 5.6 million; Market cap: $102.4 million; ca.ishares.com), holds the 11 stocks in the S&P/TSX Capped Utilities Index. The ETF’s MER is 0.60%, and it yields 4.3%. The fund’s holdings are Fortis Inc., 21.0%; Canadian Utilities, 14.9%; Emera, 14.9%; TransAlta Corp., 13.2%; ATCO, 11.6%; Superior Plus Corp., 5.3%; Capital Power Corp., 5.0%; Northland Power, 4.7%; Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., 3.8%; and Just Energy Group, 3.7%. The weight of any one company is capped at 25% of the index’s market capitalization. As a result, every three months, if the market cap of any given stock has risen above 25% of the total market cap of all the stocks in the index, the fund will sell shares of that stock to bring its weight down to the 25% cap level. The fund then uses the sale proceeds to buy other stocks in the index on a proportional basis....

BlackRock Inc., $267.44, symbol BLK on New York (Shares outstanding: 170.3 million; Market cap: $44.8 billion; www.blackrock.com), is one of the world’s largest publicly traded investment management firms. The company manages assets on behalf of institutions and individuals worldwide through a variety of equity, fixed-income, cash-management, alternative-investment and advisory products. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, BlackRock’s earnings rose 31.6%, to $729 million, or $4.19 a share, from $554 million, or $3.08 a share, a year earlier. Rising stock markets and strong demand from its individual and institutional clients were the main reasons for the gain. Excluding a one-time tax benefit from a charitable contribution, BlackRock earned $4.15 a share. That beat the consensus estimate of $3.82. Revenue rose 11.0% to $2.48 billion....