When it comes to fixed income exchange traded funds, U.S. investors often focus on domestic bond funds, but there are yield-boosting and diversification opportunities with international bond funds, such as the X-trackers Barclays International Corporate Bond Hedged ETF (CBOE: IFIX).

IFIX, which hit a six-month high Friday, follows the Barclays Global Aggregate Corporate Ex USD Bond Index (USD Hedged).

Fixed-income investors may look to international markets to diversify their bond exchange traded fund portfolios, but people should be aware of the negative effects of foreign exchange fluctuations and keep in mind potential strategies to diminish the currency risks.

When investing in overseas markets, investors should consider the negative effects of currency risks on their investments as forex fluctuations have contributed to volatility. Investors, though, can manage the currency risks with a currency-hedged strategy, which is particularly of import with the U.S. dollar strengthening against foreign currencies.

Benefits Of IFIX ETF

IFIX provides targeted market exposure to investment-grade global debt through an easy-to-use investment vehicle. Furthermore, investors will be able to diversify their portfolios and strengthen returns while minimizing volatility and losses to potentially generate improved risk-adjusted returns, along with offsetting exposure to fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and select foreign currencies.

The ETF, which holds 111 bonds, allocates 65.8% of its weight to European debt and 25.9% to bonds from North American issuers. At the end of last year, 41 countries and 14 currencies were represented in IFIX.

Related: A Positive Outlook for Emerging Market-Related ETFs

IFIX attempts to diminish the negative effects of weakening foreign currencies or a strengthening U.S. dollar. Investing in international securities exposes investors to foreign currencies. Consequently, a weakening foreign currency would usually reduce the U.S. dollar-denominated return on an international security.

Over 53% of IFIX’s holdings were rated AAA, AA or A at the end of 2018. The average final maturity of IFIX’s holdings is 8.40 years. The fund is up 2% year-to-date and yields just over 2%.

For more information on the fixed-income market, visit our bond ETFs category.