An array of single-country exchange traded funds tracking both developed and emerging markets are benefiting from rising oil prices. Investors should remember that the Global X MSCI Norway 30 ETF (NYSEArca: NORW) and the iShares MSCI Norway Capped ETF (BATS: ENOR) are among that cadre of funds.
Some oil traders believe 2017 will be fertile ground for an oil rally. While production has declined in the U.S., recently rebounding oil prices are encouraging exploration and production companies to revisit spending plans with some increasing capital expenditures. That has some oil market observers concerned about a rising rig count and the subsequent impact on crude prices.
NORW is up 3.6% to start 2017 and has surged nearly 34% over the past year. The Global X ETF allocates almost 28% of its weight to energy stocks, including a nearly 18% allocation to Statoil (NYSE: STO), Norway’s state-run oil company.
“The Global X MSCI Norway ETF seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI Norway IMI 25/50 Index,” according to Global X.
“Norway is a buy and appears to be on the move right now. Norway ticks all the boxes with regards sectoral flow analysis,” according to a Seeking Alpha analysis of Norwegian economics. “The government sector is beginning to net add to the private sector in a planned explicit way as a matter of public policy. It could not net add before as this would have been inflationary.”
ENOR, the iShares rival to NORW, allocates 30.8% of its lineup to energy stocks and almost 22% to Norwegian financial services names. Statoil is also ENOR’s largest holding at a weight of 17.5%.
“Norway has had the foresight to collect a large part of the export surplus and store it away as a sovereign wealth fund so that in effect the finite oil wealth is not lost once extracted, sold and used. The oil wealth is maintained as an income producing asset with revenue streams in perpetuity long after the oil streams flow no more,” according to Seeking Alpha.