Three of the ETFs will track single country indices - Lyxor ETF Russia the DJ Rusindex Titans 10, Lyxor ETF Brazil the IBOVESPA index, and Lyxor ETF China Enterprise the HSCEI – while the fourth, Lyxor ETF MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex-Japan, will track that regional index.
All four have TERs of 0.65%, which is cheaper than the typical TER for an OEIC or unit trust investing in Russia, China or Brazil, while the Asia-Pacific ex-Japan ETF shades the 0.83% cost of the
L&G Pacific Idx Tr, which tracks the FTSE rather than MSCI index of that region (investors do need to factor in the cost of brokerage for buying and selling the ETF shares though).
These ETFs add further choice for investors looking to gain exposure to these markets in a less costly manner, adding to the ETFs Lyxor launched earlier this year that track UK equity indices. We issue a note of caution, however, with this latest group of ETF offerings. Focusing on such narrow emerging market areas is risky business, and investors should not expect to see the same level of returns going forward that markets like China and Brazil have delivered over the last few years, with many valuations in these areas now looking stretched. It is also questionable whether most investors need this type of concentrated exposure at all, particularly in the case of the Russian ETF that tracks an index with just 10 stocks in it. Nevertheless, for those investors who can stomach these risks, Lyxor’s new ETFs offer a relatively cheap and easy way of accessing these markets.