Recently we’ve seen bullish call buying in an exchange traded fund that grants exposure to the Canadian equity market, iShares MSCI Canada (NYSEArca: EWC).
After flirting with its 50 day moving average for about two weeks, the ETF finally gapped higher late last week and is now within shouting distance of its 200 day moving average ($30.77 a share).
The index fund, which is heavy financials and energy names, making up about 50% of the holdings, has lagged both the U.S. domestic equity market as measured by the S&P 500 as well as the MSCI EAFE year to date, (down 6.48% versus S&P 500 up 2.33% and MSCI EAFE down 5.09%).
Recent activity suggests that investors may be positioning for a run up in the country heading into year’s end.
EWC has been publicly traded since 1996, and in recent years a number of other Canadian focused ETFs have come to the marketplace to offer investors different exposures to the country, which is natural resource rich.
For instance, Guggenheim Canadian Energy Income Fund (NYSEArca: ENY) invests in equities that are classified as oil and gas producers in the royalty trusts and oil sands resources categories.