Going Nordic In Search Of ETF Opportunities
When most folks think of noteworthy imports from the Nordic countries, they think of Abba, Ikea, Volvo and, well, that may be it. But for astute investors there may be some opportunities with these developed world economies.
One way to play the Nordic region, which includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, is with the Global X FTSE Nordic 30 ETF (NYSE: GXF). GXF is a thinly-traded issue, but the ETF is up 15% in the past six months.
GXF holds plenty of stocks that are listed on U.S. exchanges such as Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Statoil (NYSE: STO), Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) and Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO).
The top 10 holdings account for more than 58% of GXF's weight and by sector, financials and telecom issues account for close to 50%, so the sector diversity leaves a little something to be desired.
That said, GXF could be a fine addition to a portfolio that is heavy in emerging markets ETFs and a fine play if European economies recover in earnest in 2010.
