Granted, it closed just slightly higher, but on Tuesday the iShares MSCI All Peru Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EPU) was one of just 13 exchange traded funds to hit a new 52-week high.
“The Peruvian stock market may not be featuring the double-digit total return (10.9 percent) of its Colombian counterpart or the higher, 10.4 percent single-digit performance of Brazil’s IBOVESPA. Nonetheless, Peruvian
shares, having returned an impressive 8.7 percent so far this year that outpaces the performance of Mexican and Chilean equities (2.2 and -0.1 percent, respectively), should proceed to attract foreign investor interest and gain additional upward momentum in the process,” said S&P Capital IQ in a new research note.
EPU, the lone Peru ETF ETF, is up 9.7% this year and some of that upside can be attributed to Peru’s status as the world’s third-largest silver producer and one of the largest gold and copper producers. Those are important considerations when noting EPU’s 50.2% weight to the materials sector. Six of the ETF’s top-10 holdings are materials stocks. [Pleasant Surprise From Peru ETF]
Over the past month, EPU is up 7.2% while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) is higher by 10.3%. The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Copper Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: JJC) is up 7.4% over the same time. However, there appears to be more to EPU’s story than just the rallies in those metals.
After all, the iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EWW) and the iShares MSCI Chile Capped ETF (NYSEArca: ECH) have not really impressed in recent weeks. EWW is up just 1.4% over the past month despite Mexico’s status as the world’s largest silver producer. ECH is down 2.4% even though Chile is the world’s largest copper producer.