Putting NORW’s November slide into context, investors looking for somewhat conservative exposure to Europe could have done far better with ETFs tracking Germany, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium in addition to EWD, Sweden ETF.
So severe was the decline in Norwegian stocks last month that although Mexico depends on oil for a greater percentage of government receipts than does Norway, the iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EWW) was down less than 4%, a performance that looks good when measured against NORW.
Still, some emerging markets and the corresponding ETFs felt the wrath of lower crude prices last month. The average loss for stocks in Russia and Colombia was 11.1% last month. Russia is the largest non-OPEC producer and Colombia is South America’s third-largest oil producer behind Brazil and Venezuela.
The Global X FTSE Colombia 20 ETF (NYSEArca: GXG) and the Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEArca: RSX) lost an average of 12.2% in November.
Global X MSCI Norway 30 ETF
