BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded funds business has launched the iShares MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund on the NYSE Arca.
The launch completes the suite of iShares BRIC single country funds.
The iShares international single country offering now includes nearly 40 ETFs and 19 dedicated to emerging countries.
"The new iShares MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund offers greater precision and access to the 12th largest economy in the world," says Noel Archard, head of US product at iShares, BlackRock. "The new iShares fund further enhances our large single country iShares ETF lineup to respond to requests from financial advisors and investors for greater precision in implementing their international-focused investment strategies and interest in getting deeper access to emerging market stocks to help diversify portfolios."
The fund seeks to track the MSCI Russia 25/50 Index, which is a free-float adjusted market capitalisation weighted index designed to measure the performance of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in Russia. The benchmark index is a customised variation of the MSCI Russia Index, designed to cap certain weightings to take into account the investment diversification requirement applicable to US regulated investment companies.
The top three sectors in the index as of 15 October are energy (50.7 per cent), materials (18.4 per cent) and financials (14.5 per cent).
