The Vietnam focused exchange traded fund Market Vectors Vietnam (NYSEArca: VNM) managed to beak above its 200 day-moving-average. Can the country’s fundamentals maintain this level?
“There has been so much negativity with regard to emerging Asian equities over the last 12-18 months. Some of it has been attributable to concerns of a ‘hard economic landing’ in China, while some of it has been due to fears regarding Europe’s recession and debt crisis,” Gary Gordon said on Seeking Alpha. [International ETFs That Help Diversify]
Of the emerging Asian ETFs, there have been three that have outperformed the S&P 500. VNM is still in a downtrend, however, the fund has posted the strongest percentage gains of the Emerging Asia ETFs. [Vietnam ETF: Risks and Rewards]
SDPR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY) has managed to gain 9.7% in 2012, compared to VNM which is up 21.3%. Compare this to the iShares MSCI Malaysia (NYSEArca: EWM) which has gained 7.5% in 2012 and the iShares MSCI China ETF (NYSEArca: MCHI) that is up 1.3% through July 30th and the SPDR S&P China (NYSEArca: GXC), up 1.1% through July 30. [ETF Chart of the Day: Vietnam]
In comparison to other frontier economies, Vietnam has managed to show resilience. Inflationary pressure that was seen earlier in the year, at 25%, was the country’s major challenge, and the governments’ efforts to quell the inflation has begun to make a positive mark on the economy.