WisdomTree Unveils The Next Middle East ETF
July 16, 2008

SAN DIEGO - (ETFguide.com) - WisdomTree has launched the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (Ticker: GULF) just a few days after Standard & Poors launched the S&P GCC 40 Index (no associated ETF, yet) which largely covers the same geographical region.

GULF is linked to the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Index. The Index is fundamentally weighted and measures the performance of companies in the Middle East region that pay regular cash dividends on shares of their common stock and meet certain requirements.

Companies eligible for inclusion in the Index must be incorporated in and have their shares listed on a major stock exchange in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, or the United Arab Emirates (including Abu Dhabi and Dubai). As of the index measurement date, shares of companies must be eligible to be purchased by foreign investors. Companies must have paid at least $5 million in cash dividends on their common stock in the annual cycle prior to the most recent index measurement date.

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The Index includes the 100 largest companies based on market capitalization. Companies are weighed based on regular cash dividends paid in the annual cycles prior to the index measurement date. Country weights are capped so that no country’s weight in the index exceeds 33% at the annual rebalancing date.

As of May 30, 2008, approximately 40% of the Index consisted of companies with market capitalizations over $10 billion and 45% of the Index consisted of companies with a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion.

You may wonder why Saudi Arabia is not included in GULF. Even though it is the largest market in the region, Saudi Arabia is not accessible to foreign investors.

Other ETFs providing access to the Middle East include the PowerShares Frontier Portfolio (Ticker: PMNA) and the Africa ETF (Ticker: AFK).