New China Equity ETF Launched Today: YAO

Claymore/AlphaShares China All-Cap ETF (YAO) began trading today (October 19, 2009), becoming the third China-focused ETF from Claymore and the 11th China-focused exchange-traded product listed in the US.

The underlying index, created by AlphaShares, is designed to capture the investable universe of publicly-traded companies based in mainland China.  The “investable” criteria excludes China A and B shares while including companies listed in Hong Kong, New York, and available through Depository Receipts.  The current country weightings are China 76.0%, Hong Kong 23.4%, USA 0.4%, and Singapore 0.2%.

Sector weightings are Financials 34.9%, Energy 17.9%, Technology 11.6%, Industrials 9.5%, and Telecommunications 7.9%.  The largest of the 99 holdings are Bank of China 7.1%, China Life Insurance 5.2%, CNOOC 5.0%, ICBC 4.8%, and PetroChina Company 4.8%.  The new ETF has an expense ratio of 0.70%.

I recently wrote an article for Money and Markets that provides a brief overview of the 10 other China related ETFs.  Compared to the existing products, I expect YAO to perform similarly to SPDR S&P China ETF (GXC), which tracks 131 Hong Kong listed shares with an expense ratio of 0.59%.

The YAO fund summary also has a link to a special report entitled “China: Looking East for Opportunity.”

Disclosure (as required by FTC CFR Part 255 and SeekingAlpha):  I have no positions in any securities mentioned.  I have no positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.  I have never received any income, revenue, or fees from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.