Related News:
BlackRock's Asian, Emerging-Market Exchange-Traded Funds Draw More Money
BlackRock Inc. said its Asian and emerging-market exchange-traded funds are luring cash even as investors withdraw from China and Brazil portfolios, underscoring a shift toward greater diversification.
The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund has had $1.8 billion of net outflows this year to date, while the iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund had redemptions of $967 million, Diane Hsiung, an iShares portfolio manager at BlackRock, said in a phone interview from San Francisco. In contrast, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index fund drew $880 million and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index fund attracted almost $2 billion.
“We are seeing very, very strong inflows for Asia ex- Japan,” Hsiung said. “Perhaps people find the Asia region as a whole appealing, as opposed to individual countries.”
China’s Shanghai Composite Index has tumbled 19 percent this year as the government increased down-payment requirements on home loans and ordered banks to set aside more deposits as reserves, seeking to cool its economy. Brazil’s Bovespa has slid 5 percent as concern that European countries would default on their debt spurred a flight from bigger developing nations.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 1.5 percent this year, compared with the 7.5 percent of the MSCI World Index.
ETFs were originally designed to invest passively in baskets of securities designed to mirror the performance of indexes and commodities such as gold. Unlike index mutual funds, which are priced at the end of the day, the value of ETFs changes as they trade throughout the day.
New York-based BlackRock became the largest U.S. provider of ETFs through its December acquisition of Barclays Global Investors for $15.2 billion. Its iShares brand of ETFs oversees about $395 billion, equaling a 48 percent market share, the company said.
Among BlockRock’s other major country-specific ETFs, the iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund has had net outflows of $719 million and the iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund has had $644 million withdrawn this year to date. In contrast, the iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund had inflows totaling $260 million.
To contact the reporter on this story: Weiyi Lim in Taipei at wlim26@bloomberg.net; Reinie Booysen at rbooysen@bloomberg.
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page