Commenting on the launch of the new fund, Market Vectors ETF product manager Amrita Bagaria said that Israel is uniquely positioned to offer investors emerging market growth characteristics with a developed market approach to economic management.
"The country has a vibrant economy with broad sector representation. With that in mind, we have selected an index for ISRA that best represents the Israeli market and captures the full spectrum of economic growth potential," Bagaria added.
ISRA seeks to replicate as closely as possible, the price and yield performance of the BlueStar Israel Global Index (BLSTR), a rules-based index of Israeli and Israeli-linked companies.
Besides mid-cap and small-cap companies, BLSTR monitors the overall performance of the largest and most liquid companies.
A company can be included in BLSTR index, only if it is listed, domiciled, or founded in Israel, or must be yielding the majority of its revenues in the country.
Usually trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, stocks in the index also include Israeli-domiciled companies listed outside of the country.
ISRA is the newest member to Market Vectors’ family of international equity ETFs, which also comprises the Indonesia Index ETF (IDX), Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (IDXJ), Brazil Small-Cap ETF (BRF), India Small-Cap ETF (SCIF), Russia ETF (RSX), Russia Small-Cap ETF (RSXJ), Vietnam ETF (VNM), and more.
As of 31 May 2013, the Market Vectors family had $23.7bn in total assets under management.
