iShares Asia Region ETFs Weekly and YTD Returns

The iShares Asia region country-based ETFs posted solid returns last week, with all but Japan and Singapore outperforming the S&P 500.

iShares MSCI Malaysia (EWM), the year-to-date return leader, rose 1.9%, taking its ytd return to 32.1%, slightly ahead of iShares S. Korea (EWY), which led all advancers last week, climbing 8.1%.

iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI), rallied 6.2%, increasing its ytd return to just under 23%. Hong Kong (EWH) gained 5.2% to +11.9% ytd. Taiwan (EWT) rose 4.6% to +15.3% ytd.

Singapore (EWS) was the second-worst performer at +1.7%, but is now up 23.8% for the year. Japan (EWJ) continues to lag -- +0.8% last week, +3.0% ytd.

A Citigroup strategist upgraded Taiwanese stocks to "overweight" from "underweight" last week, while downgrading Singapore to "underweight" from "overweight."

iShares Australia (EWA) gained 3.4%, making it the third best performer ytd among the funds surveyed, at +25.3%.

The iPath ETN MSCI India (INP) index fund and Pacific ex-Japan (EPP) fund posted gains of 4.4% and 3.5%, respectively, both increasing their ytd returns over 20%.

See the chart below for last week's results. There are two sets of returns for each ETF: the past week [light blue] and year-to-date [purple].

The bars for the iShares S&P 500 index (IVV) are colored differently for comparative purposes.

Click to enlarge chart

Disclosure: The author does not own shares of any funds mentioned in this article.

Further reading: Country ETFs' 2Q Performance: China Leads, Japan Lags

Here is a list of the relevant ETFs and their tickers.

iShares Australia (EWA)
iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI)
iShares Hong Kong (EWH)
iPath ETN MSCI India (INP)
iShares Japan (EWJ)
iShares Malaysia (EWM)
iShares Singapore (EWS)
iShares S. Korea (EWY)
iShares Taiwan (EWT)
iShares EAFE (EFA)
iShares Pacific ex-Japan (EPP)
iShares S&P 500 (IVV)