The iShares MSCI South Africa (NYSEArca: EZA) is down 15% the past month and one of the worst-performing ETFs in the truly ugly emerging markets category.
EZA, which doesn’t hedge its foreign currency exposure, has been hurt by a weaker rand.
“South Africa’s rand fell more than 1.5% against the dollar on Tuesday to a four-year low and stocks tumbled, as a global sell-off of commodity-linked currencies and emerging market assets intensified,” Reuters reported.
The rand is down nearly 18% against the U.S. dollar so far this year.
“Foreign investors are starting to vote with their feet, as the bond market sell-off and sharp depreciation of the rand so clearly illustrate,” newspaper Business Day said Monday.
Labor unrest and strikes in South America’s mining sector have also punished EZA.