|
|
|
 Business News | April 2008 
Mexico Hottest Market During Past 10 Years
 Jesse Emspak - Investor's Business Daily
go to original
Investors who took the long view on exchange traded funds in 1998 were rewarded if they went overseas.
Nine of the 10 ETFs with the biggest yearly returns tracked overseas markets, according to Lipper data. Of those nine, four were in emerging markets.
The winner of the group is iShares MSCI Mexico, which pulled in an annualized 16.99% through April 17. The S&P 500 returned 3.88% a year over the same span.
IShares MSCI Mexico tracks the Bolsa Mexicana, the country's stock exchange. It's relatively concentrated, with about 25% of the ETF weighting in America Movil. America Movil has an IBD Composite Rating of 93, and seems to be forming a base.
Like many Latin American economies, Mexico has had steady, if modest, growth in the last decade.
The country also is exporting more to Europe and Asia as trade ties have grown and the peso has fallen in tandem with the dollar.
Second Best
The next best returns come from iShares MSCI Australia, which clocked in at 13.76%.
Its biggest holding is BHP Billiton, which took up 13.68% of the assets as of March 31. The ETF is less concentrated than its Mexican counterpart, though still more so than an S&P fund.
The top five holdings after BHP are Australian banks such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The credit crunch has hurt Australia's finance sector, but that is recent. For the past few years rising commodity prices have fueled growth.
It even reached the point where the central bank considered raising interest rates rather than cutting them.
Other developed markets in the top 10 were Austria, Canada, Spain and France. They were in third, fourth, seventh and 10th place, respectively.
Dollar's Fall
Some of that performance has come as the dollar has slid against the euro and the loonie.
In 1998, the dollar was 1.08 euros and the loonie was 70 cents. Now the euro is worth $1.56 and the Canadian dollar is 98 cents.
The U.S. stock ETF that performed in the top 10 - in eighth place - is MidCap SPDRs, returning 9.09% per year. Six of the 10 heaviest weighted stocks are energy companies.
But the index also includes health care, technology and industrials in the top 10.
Its biggest weighting is in industrial materials at 16.20% as of Feb. 29.
While Brazil and China wowed investors in 2007, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong brought results over 10 years.
IShares MSCI Malaysia Index returned 11.47% and iShares MSCI Singapore Index (brought 11.05%. IShares MSCI Hong Kong Index Fund was 8.72%, in ninth place behind MidCap SPDRs. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us