With five of this year’s top 10 non-leveraged exchange traded funds being funds that hold China A-shares, it is safe to say the stocks that traded in Shanghai and Shehzhen have garnered considerable attention for their jaw-dropping performances.
That adulation has recently intensified. Last week, FTSE Russell said it is elevating China A-shares to its global benchmarks, news that elicited a sharp one-day for U.S.-listed A-shares ETFs. [A-Shares ETFs Surge on FTSE News]
FTSE Russell’s decision means the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO), the world’s largest emerging markets ETF, will eventually hold A-shares to the tune of 5.6%. [Vanguard Tinkers With Some International ETFs]
“The initial weighting of China A Shares in the FTSE Emerging inclusion indexes will be approximately 5%. This is expected to increase to 32% (at 31-March 2015 market values) when China A Shares are fully available to international investors, and hence resulting in Chinese stocks (including B-Share, H-Share, P Chips and Red Chips) to make up 50% of FTSE Emerging Index,” said FTSE Russell in a statement.
Attention has shifted to MSCI (NYSE: MSCI) and whether that index giant will promote A-shares to its global benchmarks, a decision that could come as soon as June 9. If MSCI makes such an announcement, expect another big rally for A-shares ETFs because that means A-shares will be added to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index to which $1.7 trillion in global assets are benchmarked. [MSCI Could Delay A-Shares Decision]
However, investors do not have to wait to see how A-shares can affect a diversified emerging markets ETF. The KraneShares FTSE Emerging Markets Plus ETF (BATS: KEMP) answers that question. KEMP, which launched in February, is the first diversified emerging markets ETF to include China A-shares. [This EM ETF has A-Shares]
KEMP delivers A-shares exposure to investors via a 22.4% weight in the KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A ETF (NYSEArca: KBA), the lone U.S.-listed A-shares ETF that tracks an MSCI index. Coming into Tuesday, KBA was the fourth-best non-leveraged ETF in terms of 2015 percentage gains, up 45.2%.
KBA’s surge has helped drive meaningful out-performance by KEMP over VWO and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: EEM). VWO and EEM, the two biggest emerging markets ETFs, are up an average of 5.4% this year, but KEMP is up more than 10%.
KEMP’s China exposure is not limited to KBA. Overall, the ETF’s underlying index had 48.1% weight to China at the end of April, nearly double the China weight found in the FTSE Emerging Markets Index.
KEMP tracks the FTSE Emerging GDP Weighted index. The GDP-weighted index is a combination of securities from three different underlying index series:The FTSE Emerging Index, part of the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, FTSE China A Index, including A-shares and the FTSE China Overseas Index, including N-shares and S-chips, according to FTSE.
KraneShares FTSE Emerging Markets Plus ETF
