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BlackRock Unveils New Zealand ETF
September 3, 2010
SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) – BlackRock just launched the iShares MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index Fund (NYSEArca: ENZL).
The new single country ETF owns 23 stocks with a median market size of $710 million and skews heavily toward small cap stocks. The largest sector weightings of the index include materials (23 percent), telecommunications (16 percent) and consumer discretionary (14 percent).
“The iShares MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index Fund provides financial professionals, institutions and individuals first-to-market access to a developed country in the midst of a strong economic recovery,” said Noel Archard, Head of US Product at iShares, BlackRock. “Investors are increasingly interested in the precision of single country investing to implement international-focused investment strategies.”
The fund is the first ETF focused solely on the New Zealand market and annual its annual expense ratio is 0.55%.
ENZL is linked to the MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index which is free-float adjusted market capitalization weighted and aims to track the top 99 percent of stocks by market size listed on stock exchanges in New Zealand.
According to the International Monetary Fund, New Zealand is expected to have real GDP growth of about three percent per year in 2010 and 2011 with inflation targeted at 1 to 3 percent in the medium term.
Specialized Volatility ETNs
In related new product news, the Barclays ETN+VEQTOR ETN (NYSEArca: VQT) debuted. The new ETN will follow the S&P 500 Dynamic VEQTOR Total Return Index, which divides its notional investments across areas that include equity, volatility and cash.
The equity component is represented by the S&P 500 Total Return Index while the volatility component is represented by the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index.
VQT is an unsecured debt obligation of Barclays Bank and it charges annual expenses of 0.95%. The British-based bank is rated AA- by Standard & Poor’s and Aa3 by Moody’s. |
