Exchange traded funds tracking European and emerging markets equities have been in focus through much of 2014, but among those funds tracking foreign markets, Australia ETFs should not be getting lost in the shuffle.
Although stocks in the world’s 12th-largest economy trade near record valuations, Australian equities have rewarded investors this year. The iShares MSCI Australia ETF (NYSEArca: EWA), the largest Australia ETF, is up 10.5% while the WisdomTree Australia Dividend Fund (NYSEArca: AUSE) is higher by 7%. [Australia ETFs Pricey, but Still Soaring]
Even the IndexIQ Australia Small Cap ETF (NYSEArca: KROO) has gotten in on the act, soaring 6.2%, nearly triple the gains posted by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEArca: IWM). [Global Small-Cap ETFs Topping U.S. Rivals]
A look at EWA’s charts shows some encouraging signs and that even though the fund is up 6.1% in the past 90 days, more upside could be in the offing.
“The long-term monthly chart of EWA below shows the price action has been in a tight range over the past two months. A breakout above the current 3-month high should spark some buying interest and lift EWA up to the prior highs of 2011 and 2013 (around $28),” notes Deron Wagner of Morpheus Trading Group.
EWA is only modestly higher over the past month, though that could be a sign of consolidation before another large move higher.
“Drilling down to the weekly time frame, EWA has formed a tight, 8-week base above the rising 10-week moving average, with two of those weeks forming bullish reversal candles,” added Wagner. With both weekly reversal candle lows at $26, EWA shouldn’t dip much below this level if the pattern is to follow through to the upside within the next few weeks.”
The $2 billion EWA allocates 51.2% of its weight to the financial services sector and another 17.3% to the materials sector. Those are the only two sectors that command double-digit weights in the ETF.
iShares MSCI Australia ETF
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post. Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of IWM.