ETF Spotlight on the WisdomTree Asia Local Debt Fund (NYSEArca: ALD), part of an ongoing series.
Assets: $348.2 million
Objective: The WisdomTree Asia Local Debt Fund is actively managed and tries to generate a high level of total returns through investing in local debt denominated in currencies of Asia Pacific ex-Japan countries.
Holdings: Top holdings include Malaysia 3.26% 3/1/2018 5.3%, Korea 2.75% 9/10/2017 5.2%, Malaysia 4.012% 9/15/2017 4.8%, Philippines 4.95% 1/15/2021 4.2% and Queensland Tsy Corp 6.0% 7/21/2022 4.6%.
What You Should Know:
- WisdomTree sponsors the fund.
- ALD has a 0.55% expense ratio.
- The ETF has 40 bond holdings and the top ten make up 37.3% of the overall portfolio.
- Country allocations include South Korea 12.8%, Singapore 12.5%, Malaysia 12.4%, Australia 12.0%, China 6.6%, India 6.4%, New Zealand 6.4%, Taiwan 6.4%, Philippines 6.3%, Indonesia 6.3%, Thailand 6.2% and Hong Kong 5.9%.
- Credit quality allocations include AAA 21.5%, AA 30.2%, A 21.1%, BBB 6.5%, BB 5% and not rated 15.7%.
- The fund is up 0.7% over the past month, up 2.9% over the past three months and up 4.2% year-to-date.
- The ETF has a 3.07 year effective duration.
- The fund shows a 2.57% 30-day SEC yield.
- ALD is trading 1.8% above its 200-day exponential moving average.
- Since the fund tracks local currency denominated debt, investors will be exposed to currency risks.
- If the foreign currencies depreciate, or U.S. dollar appreciates, the bond gains will translate to a lower U.S. dollar return.
- As an actively managed ETF, the managers won’t adhere to a strict methodology and have more leeway to change up their styles to fit the prevailing market environment.
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