Five Asia-Pacific ETFs Your Broker Forgot to Mention

In a mythical emerging markets competition between the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America who would win? Well, this year the winner would simply be less bad than the loser, but going forward, both regions offer excellent growth prospects. When it comes to ETFs, there are clearly more tracking the Asia-Pacific region than Latin America, but investors should realize that neither region is all about its biggest economy, those being China and Brazil. In other words, there are ETFs worth considering from both regions that just aren't grabbing a lot of headlines these days. For those looking to bet on emerging markets rebound with a bias to Asia-Pacific, here are five ETFs your broker is probably neglecting to tell you about. Global X FTSE ASEAN 40 ETF ASEA: We'll admit we were once quite bullish on ASEA, but the August/September market swoon has battered this ETF severely. Still, assets under management have held steady around $22 million and if ASEA can break $15.50 on the chart, then it can return to $17.50, its all-time high. Remember, this is the only ETF to offer combined exposure to several of the rapidly growing ASEAN countries in one ETF. Assuming emerging markets come back into style next year, expect ASEA to flourish. IndexIQ Taiwan Small-Cap ETF TWON: Taiwan's status as one of the more reliable and less volatile emerging markets hasn't prevented some big drops in Taiwan ETFs this year, but as Chinese and Taiwanese equities rebound, small-cap names could lead the party. That's part of the attraction to TWON. Another aspect to like is the fact that ETF allocates three-quarters of its weight to industrials, technology and materials, all export industries. Hold TWON as long as it stays above $20. iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index Fund AAXJ: The iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index Fund has over $1.5 billion in assets under management, so to say this one is unknown isn't accurate, but it also isn't most popular Asia-Pacific ETF out there. Home to almost 648 stocks, this is the ETF for investors looking for large-cap exposure to the usual suspects of the Asia ex-Japan universe. China, South Korea and Taiwan account for about 59% of the ETF's country weights. WisdomTree Australia Dividend ETF AUSE: The iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund EWA has barely outperformed the WisomTree Australia Dividend ETF in the past three months. Thing is EWA has a trailing 12-month yield of 5.1%. AUSE's is 6.3% and the WisdomTree fund has better sector diversity. First Trust Asia Pacific Ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund FPA: FPA made its debut in April and has attracted almost $2.4 million in assets under management. Home to 100 stocks, FPA takes a different Asia ex-Japan approach than AAXJ as South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia account for over 88% of this ETF's weight.