Six top ETFs for global exposure

Article Excerpt

We think conservative investors can 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 continue to offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks. Here’s a look at four international ETFs we see as buys, and two we feel you should hang on to: ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX FUND $37.83 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The fund’s geographic breakdown includes China, 26.0%; South Korea, 14.8%; Taiwan, 12.1%; India, 8.4%; Brazil, 7.3%; South Africa, 6.6%; Mexico, 3.7%; Russia, 3.6%; Malaysia, 2.7%; Indonesia, 2.7%; Thailand, 2.3%; and Turkey, 1.5%. Its top holdings are Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 4.0%; Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 3.8%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 3.5%; Alibaba Group (China: e-commerce), 2.9%; Naspers (South Africa: media and Internet), 1.8%; China Mobile, 1.8%;…