The iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund declined up to 1.45 percent today, and gold spiked, as a South Korean naval vessel was sinking near the border with North Korea. The ship, said to have 104 crew on board, began sinking close to North Korea around 10:45 p.m. Friday night, and the exact cause was not immediately clear. Officials later said the ship had sunk. “It is not clear whether North Korea was involved,” Presidential Blue House spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye told Reuters. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also said it could not conclude that the reclusive North was behind the attack.

According to Businessweek, “Trading of put options that give the right to sell the ETF jumped to more than 33,000 contracts, or 20 times the four-week average. The most-active contracts were April $45 puts, which jumped 60 percent to 40 cents.”

The iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund (EWY) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the South Korean market, as measured by the MSCI Korea Index.

According to the fund’s website the top holdings are as follows:

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD 18.04%
POSCO 7.63%
HYUNDAI MOTOR CO 3.90%
SHINHAN FINANCIAL GROUP LTD 3.68%
KB FINANCIAL GROUP INC 3.47%
LG ELECTRONICS INC 2.23%
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS-PFD 2.22%
LG CHEM LTD 2.20%
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR INC 2.17%
KOREA ELECTRIC POWER CORP 2.09%

Related Video:

Related posts:

1. iShares Funds Files For iShares MSCI South Korea Small Cap Index Fund ETF
2. iShares To Begin Trading The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index Fund ETF Index Fund ETF (EEMS) Thursday, August 18th
3. iShares To Begin Trading The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility Index Fund ETF Thursday, October 20th
4. iShares Funds Files For iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Energy Sector Capped Index Fund ETF
5. iShares Funds Files For iShares MSCI All Country Asia Information Technology Index Fund ETF

NYSE:EWY