Hong Kong’s worst bout of political protests in nearly six decades is not chasing investors from exchange traded funds such as the iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF (NYSEArca: EWH).
In fact, investors are putting new capital to work with EWH and other ETFs tracking stocks listed in the city-state that is a territory of China. Since pro-democracy protests started in Hong Kong on Sept. 28, investors have put a combined $200 million into the six largest Hong Kong ETFs, report Ye Xie, Meng Meng and Weiyi Lim for Bloomberg.
Last week, EWH, by far the largest and most heavily traded Hong Kong ETF listed in the U.S., added almost $82.2 million in new assets while showing no ill effects from the protests. EWH finished the week higher by two-thirds of a percent after soaring 1.8% last Friday on volume that was well above the daily average. [Hong Kong ETFs Keep Surprising]
That kept alive an impressive run of asset-gathering for EWH. During the third quarter, the ETF added $1.23 billion in new assets. That was easily the best total of any single-country ETF and better than all but eight ETFs. [Rushing to Hong Kong ETFs]
“The protests were triggered by China’s decision that candidates for the city’s leader in 2017 elections be vetted by a committee, which pro-democracy groups say will guarantee loyalty to Beijing. Hong Kong’s current leader, Leung Chun-ying, has repeatedly called for students to leave the streets after the protests closed schools, offices and bank branches around the former British colony’s central business district,” according to Bloomberg.