Franklin Templeton Investments expanded on to its line of cheap country-specific ETFs with the addition of three new funds that target Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the broader Latin America markets.
Franklin Templeton Investments launched three new ETFs, including:
- Franklin FTSE Saudi Arabia ETF (NYSEArca: FLSA), which has a 0.39% expense ratio
- Franklin FTSE South Africa ETF (NYSEArca: FLZA), which has a 0.19% expense ratio
- Franklin FTSE Latin America ETF (NYSEArca: FLLA), which has a 0.19% expense ratio
“Many investors are looking to go beyond broad-based emerging markets or developed markets portfolios to capture the differences in performance that individual countries or regions can experience at different times based on a variety of market events,” Patrick O’Connor, head of global ETFs, said in a note. “We offer investors access to a large proportion of this universe in order to make these tactical allocations using passive ETFs.”
Inside the New ETFs
The Franklin FTSE Saudi Arabia ETF tries to reflect the performance of the FTSE Saudi Arabia Capped Index, a market capitalization-weighted index of Saudi Arabian large- and mid-cap stocks. Top holdings include Saudi Basic Industries 16.3%, AL Rajhi Bank 12.5% and National Commercial Bank 8.9%.
The Franklin FTSE South Africa ETF tries to reflect the performance of the FTSE/JSE South Africa Capped Index, a market capitalization-weighted index of South African large- and mid-cap stocks. Top holdings include Naspers 18.3%, Sasol 7.0% and Standard Bank Group 5.1%.
Lastly, the Franklin FTSE Latin America ETF tries to reflect the performance of the FTSE Latin America Capped Index, a market capitalization-weighted index of Latin American large- and mid-cap stocks. Top holdings include Vale SA 8.1%, Itau Unibanco Holding 6.1% and Banco Bradesco 4.4%.
The LibertyShares ETF suite now includes 23 funds that track single country and regional market cap-weighted benchmarks to help investors customize their international exposure at a low cost.
“Many investors allocate across broad emerging and developed markets based on their risk preferences, market expectations, and investment objectives. However, individual countries and regions can behave very differently over a given time period, creating an opportunity to capture growth through precise exposures,” according to Franklin Templeton Investments.
For more information on new fund products, visit our new ETFs category.