Asia Pacific stocks and regional exchange traded funds experienced their best month in six years after a steep sell-off enticed value investors.
Over the past month, the Vanguard FTSE Pacific ETF (NYSEArca: VPL) rose 10.1%, Global X FTSE ASEAN 40 ETF (NYSEArca: ASEA) gained 10.1%, SPDR S&P Emerging Asia Pacific ETF (NYSEArca: GMF) advanced 10.0% and iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF (NYSEArca: IPAC) increased 10.6%.
Meanwhile, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index was on track for its best month since May 2009, rising 8% in local currency terms through Thursday, its first month of gains after fourth straight monthly losses, reports Chao Deng for the Wall Street Journal.
“The general trend is an ongoing recovery from the August and September selloff,” Angus Nicholson, market analyst at brokerage IG, told the WSJ, pointing out that the China, the big pressure point on markets, is less of a factor and added to the region’s market momentum.
Leading the region, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 11% after four-straight negative months, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 8.6% after five-consecutive monthly losses, and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average closed with gains of 10%, its best month since April 2013.
Over the past month, the Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF (NYSEArca: ASHR) added 10.3%, iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF (NYSEArca: EWH) was up 10.2% and iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEArca: EWJ) was 10.6% higher.
VPL tries to reflect the performance of the FTSE Developed Asia Pacific All Cap Index, which covers developed Asia Pacific economies, including Japan 60.1%, Australia 16.0%, Korea 11.1%, Hong Kong 8.8%, Singapore 3.4% and New Zealand 0.6%.
IPAC includes a similar developed Asia Pacific weight, tracking the MSCI Pacific Investable Market Index, with a 68.0% position in Japan, 17.8% in Australia, 9.0% in Hong Kong and 4.0% in Singapore. However, since MSCI considers South Korea an emerging market, IPAC does not include Korea exposure.
ASEA leans toward southeast Asian economies, including Singapore 37.5%, Malaysia 25.5%, Indonesia 16.8%, Thailand 15.7% and Philippines 4.5%.
GMF focuses on emerging Asia Pacific countries, including China 45.7%, Taiwan 20.3%, India 17.8%, Malaysia 4.6%, Thailand 4.1%, Indonesia 3.8% and Philippines 2.6%.
Vanguard FTSE Pacific ETF
For more information on Asian markets, visit our Asia category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.