iShares Asia Region ETFs Weekly and YTD Returns

iShares Asia region country-based ETFs traded higher across the board last week, except for perennially disappointing Japan. iShares Hong Kong, +9.0% and FTSE/Xinhua China 25, +6.3%, led all advancers.

iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI) is now up 40% on the year, the highest among the funds surveyed.

Hong Kong (EWH) increased its year-to-date return to more than 25%.

Singapore (EWS) had the third-best country fund return last week, +4.4%, raising its ytd return to over 24%.

S. Korea (EWY) gained 3%, recovering +30% for the year, second-best among the funds surveyed.

Malaysia (EWM) was up a more modest 0.7%, +24% ytd.

Japan (EWJ) lost 0.6%, taking its ytd loss to 4.4%.

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].

Note, 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.

In Monday trading, Shanghai led regional advancers, +2.1% to 5,421.39, setting another all-time high, despite a PBOC rate hike (the fifth time this year) late Friday (full story). The Hang Seng, however, fell 1.2% to 24,599.34, Taiwan's benchmark lost 1.5% to 8,899.91 and Singapore's Straits Times declined 1.7% to 3,476.31. The Nikkei was closed for a national holiday.

Recommended reading: Watch for Sector, Country ETF Overlap • Taiwan's Politics Make For a Poor Investment • PlanetQuant's World Equity Rankings and ETF Analysis

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)