The first Norway single-country ETF began trading Wednesday (11/10/2010) with the launch of Global X FTSE Norway 30 ETF (NORW). The country of 4.8 million people on the western edge of the Scandinavian Peninsula is one of the world’s most developed countries. Norway has its own currency, the krone, and is not part of the European Union.
The fund’s underlying cap-weighted index attempts to capture the broad equity performance of the country. Sector weightings skew heavily toward Energy at 41.4%, followed by Financials 18.0%, Telecommunications 11.3%, Materials 10.4%, Consumer Goods 8.8%, Consumer Services 7.3%, Industrials 2.2%, and Technology 0.5%.
Largest of the 30 holdings are Statoil 18.9%, Dnb Nor 14.5%, Telenor A/S 11.0%, Seadrill 5.6%, Yara International 5.4%, and Norsk Hydro 5.1%. The expense ratio comes in at 0.50%. Additional information is located in the press release (pdf), summary page, and fact sheet (pdf).
Global X launched the Global X FTSE Nordic 30 ETF (GXF) 15 months ago, and it currently has about a 17.5% weighting in Norway along with Sweden at 50.4%, Denmark 20.5%, and Finland 11.7%.
My friend Roger Nusbaum is probably smiling today because now he is one step closer to getting his Norwegian Fishery ETF, with at least three of NORW’s holdings (and almost 4% of the fund) fitting that description.
Photo: Hans-Petter Fjeld (CC-BY-SA)
Disclosure covering writer, editor, and publisher: No positions in any of the securities mentioned. No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned. No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.