Three Country ETFs Hitting 52 Week Highs

Though many markets have been very choppy over the past few months, a handful have managed to breakout of this malaise and find their footing. In fact, during recent trading, three country ETFs actually hit fresh 52 week highs, suggesting that they are definitely moving in the right direction, despite some serious concerns about the global economy.

This may mean that these funds are a bit uncorrelated to the broader economy, and that they may be better positioned to deal with the ups and downs of the current volatile investing environment. So, some might be excellent selections for global investors at this time. Below, we profile these three nations which are seeing their funds surge to 52 week highs, and what their positive momentum as of late has been:

Israel

The Israeli market is best represented in ETF form by the iShares MSCI Israel Capped Investable Market ETF (NYSEARCA:EIS). This fund tracks a basket of about 55 stocks in the nation and it currently holds just over $100 million in assets.

The product is targeted on financials and health care, as these two segments make up just over half of the portfolio combined, while basic materials and real estate round out the top four. Teva Pharma (NASDAQ:TEVA) dominates the portfolio with just under 24% of assets, while two banks take up the next two spots in the fund.

EIS hit its 52 week high of $52.18/share on Wednesday, representing a gain of about 19.2% in the past one year time frame. While this has slightly underperformed the S&P 500 in the same time period, investors should note that EIS has trounced SPY in the past three months, adding over 9.2% compared to 3.4% for the top American benchmark.

One of the key reasons for this concentrated fund’s run of outperformance is definitely TEVA. The stock—which is roughly one-quarter of EIS—has gained more than 26% in the past three months, propelling the Israel ETF to a big gain. And considering that TEVA currently has a Zacks Rank #2, we could see more gains out of this stock, and thus EIS, in the near future.

New Zealand

New Zealand isn’t exactly a hotbed of ETF activity as really there is only one choice targeting the space right now, the iShares MSCI New Zealand Capped ETF (NYSEARCA:ENZL). The fund targets 30 stocks from the nation, and it has just under $170 million in assets under management.

This fund is pretty well spread out, as no single sector accounts for more than 20% of the total. Instead, six segments receive weights of at least 10% in the basket, suggesting solid diversification from that perspective (See 3 Global ETFs for a Diversified Portfolio in 2014).

ENZL recently hit its 52 week high of $42.83/share, and the fund has moved higher by about 18.7% in the past one year time frame. Again, this is a bit light compared to the S&P 500, though the real run for ENZL has come in the past three months.