iShares Asia Region ETFs (ex-India) Trade Broadly Lower

With the exception of India and Japan, all iShares Asia region country-based ETFs traded to the downside last week. Japan was flat, but iPath ETN India posted an impressive second-consecutive week of 11%-plus gains.

iPath ETN India (INP) has been hot the past two weeks and is now up about 75% for the year, second-best among the funds surveyed.

iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI), the regional year-to-date return leader at nearly 87%, lost 0.6% last week. Highflying Shanghai has yet to recover the 6,000 level it eclipsed in mid-October, while the Hang Seng was mostly range bound last week, after surging past 31,500 last Monday.

iShares Hong Kong (EWH) lost 1.5% last week, but is still up a solid 43.5% for the year. Australia (EWA) and Malaysia (EWM) also fell slightly for the week, but are still above 40% ytd. South Korea (EWY) lost 2.3% last week (see South Korea Fund: Value Investing With Some Risks), lowering its ytd return to 44.5%.

iShares Taiwan (EWT) was last week's biggest loser, down 4.2% for a ytd return of 17.5%.

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 (11/2) trading, regional indices struggled on news Citigroup chief Chuck Prince resigned, amidst potentially billions of dollars of new subprime-related writedowns (full story). The Hang Seng plunged 5%, falling to 28,942, in reaction to China's premier announcing new measures making it very difficult for a proposal to allow mainland investors to invest in Hong Kong to be approved in the near-term. The Shanghai Composite lost 2.5% to 5,634 on PetroChina's first day of trading in which its global market cap reached an unprecedented $1 trillion (full story). Other heavy decliners include India's BSE 30 -1.9%, Australia's All Ordinaries -1.6% and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average -1.5%. Tawain's Weighted Index was the only index to close in positive territory, +0.4%.

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)

Comments

[India Watcher:]

INP units outstanding appear to now be capped ... from the prospectus:

New York, NY (November 5, 2007) – Subsequent to the announcement dated October 26, 2007 by
Barclays Bank PLC ("Barclays") with respect to the issuance, sale and lending of iPath® Exchange Traded
Notes linked to the MSCI India IndexSM ("iPath India"), Barclays has received further clarification with
respect to the announcement of the Securities and Exchange Board of India in relation to derivative
instruments linked to Indian equity securities. Based on this clarification, Barclays announces that, with
immediate effect, Barclays will resume sale of iPath India from inventory to the extent, but only to the
extent, that such iPath notes, which were previously sold, have been redeemed by Barclays; and will
resume lending activities from inventory with respect to iPath India to the extent, but only to the extent,
that such iPath notes, which were previously lent out, have been returned to or acquired by Barclays. In
all other respects, the suspension of issuance, sale and lending involving iPath India, as announced on
October 26, 2007 remains in effect.INP units outstanding appear to now be capped ... from the prospectus:

New York, NY (November 5, 2007) – Subsequent to the announcement dated October 26, 2007 by
Barclays Bank PLC ("Barclays") with respect to the issuance, sale and lending of iPath® Exchange Traded
Notes linked to the MSCI India IndexSM ("iPath India"), Barclays has received further clarification with
respect to the announcement of the Securities and Exchange Board of India in relation to derivative
instruments linked to Indian equity securities. Based on this clarification, Barclays announces that, with
immediate effect, Barclays will resume sale of iPath India from inventory to the extent, but only to the
extent, that such iPath notes, which were previously sold, have been redeemed by Barclays; and will
resume lending activities from inventory with respect to iPath India to the extent, but only to the extent,
that such iPath notes, which were previously lent out, have been returned to or acquired by Barclays. In
all other respects, the suspension of issuance, sale and lending involving iPath India, as announced on
October 26, 2007 remains in effect.

2007 Nov 15 01:27 PM