Here’s a Low-risk Japanese ETF We Recommend

Article Excerpt

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $15.05 (American Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through a broker) is an exchange-traded mutual fund that tries to match the return of the MSCI Japan Index (Morgan Stanley Capital International Japan Index). The MSCI Japan Index is a benchmark for Japanese equity performance. The iShares Japan Index Fund charges a fee of 0.84% of assets. The fund’s top holdings are: Toyota Motor at 5.7%; Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, 3.7%; Mizuho Financial Group, 2.9%; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, 1.8%; Takeda Pharmaceutical, 1.8%; Honda Motor, 1.8%; Canon Inc., 1.7%; Sony, 1.6%; Matsushita Electric Industrial, 1.4%; and Nomura Holdings, 1.4%. Japanese investing was something of a craze for North Americans in the 1980s. Around the start of the 1990s, the Japanese stock market reached a peak and started to drop. It had fallen by more than 80% by May, 2003. The market has moved up since then, including a 56% rise over the last year. The market recently hit a..