Zero in on Vietnam’s best

Article Excerpt

VANECK VECTORS VIETNAM ETF $14.90 (New York symbol VNM; buy or sell through brokers) holds Vietnamese companies and foreign firms that get a significant share of their revenue from the Southeast Asian nation. The ETF’s top holdings are Vietnam Dairy, 8.3%; Vinhomes (real estate), 8.1%; Vingroup (conglomerate), 8.4%; No Va Land (real estate), 7.0%; and Masan Group (conglomerate), 7.5%.The ETF’s MER is 0.66%. The fund cuts some of Vietnam’s above-average political risk by investing part of its assets in firms that are based outside of the country, but do at least 50% of their business there. It’s a better approach than adding the thinly traded, or illiquid, shares of smaller domestic firms. Like many emerging markets, Vietnam has dropped lately. That’s because a growing U.S. economy and rising interest rates have pushed up the U.S. dollar. This typically results in capital flowing to the U.S. from emerging markets. That hurts investments in those economies. Even so, Vietnam still offers diversification and the potential for above-average…