BlackRock Targets International Sectors  
January 26, 2010

SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) – The surge in emerging market stocks over the past ten months has produced another type of surge; a sudden increase in the number of ETFs tracking them.

BlackRock (iShares) is the latest ETF provider to jump onto the emerging markets bandwagon. Last week the San Francisco, CA-based asset manager unveiled five foreign sector funds that follow MSCI benchmarks.

“We are excited to expand our international financial and materials sector fund offerings as it is an underserved segment of the market and one that continues to draw strong investor demand,” said Michael Latham, co-CEO of iShares at BlackRock. “

The new iShares sector funds are NASDAQ listed and charge expense ratios that range from 0.48% to 0.72%.

Here’s a quick summary of each fund’s strategy:

iShares MSCI ACWI ex  US Financials Sector Index Fund (NYSEArca: AXFN) – Provides exposure to the financials sector of developed and emerging markets countries, excluding the United States. The Fund offers the only GICs-based financial sector classification that also includes emerging markets exposure. The top five country exposure of the index is UK 13%, Australia 10%, Canada 10%, Japan 9% and Spain 6%.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Financials Sector Index Fund (NYSEArca: EMFN) - Provides exposure to the financials sector of emerging market countries. The financials sector includes banks, diversified financial companies, insurance companies and real estate companies. The top five country exposure of the index is comprised of China 28%, Brazil 14%, South Korea 10%, India 8% and Taiwan 8%.

iShares MSCI Europe Financials Sector Index Fund (NYSEArca: EUFN) -  Provides exposure to the financials sector of developed market countries in Europe. The iShares sector offering is now more than 40 domestic, global and international sector/subsector ETFs. The top five country exposure of the index is UK 29%, Spain 13%, France 13%, Switzerland 12% and Germany 10%. 

iShares MSCI Far East Financials Sector Index Fund (NYSEArca: FEFN) - Provides exposure to the financials sector of developed countries in the Far East region. The financials sector includes banks, diversified financial companies, insurance companies and real estate companies. The country breakdown of the index is Japan 63%, Hong Kong 26% and Singapore 12%.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Materials Sector Index Fund (NYSEArca: EMMT) – Provides exposure to the materials sector of emerging market countries. The materials sector includes chemical companies, construction materials companies, containers and packaging companies, metals and mining companies and paper and forest product companies. The top five country breakdown of the index is Brazil 30%, South Africa 13%, South Korea 12%, Taiwan 10% and China 7%.

Other New ETF Offerings
ProShares, which specializes in leveraged long/short ETFs, has launched the ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury (NYSEArca: UBT) and ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury (NYSEArca: UST).

UBT aims to deliver twice (200%) the daily performance of the Barclays Capital 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Index. UST seeks investment results that correspond to twice (200%) the daily performance of the Barclays Capital 7-10 Year U.S. Treasury Index.

Both ETFs charge annual expenses of 0.95%.