ETF Watch: More Fund Closures Coming

Two more ETFs are slated to close come October, following eight closures last week. This time, it’s a pair of country ETFs by ETF issuer VanEck.

The VanEck Vectors Gulf States Index ETF (MES) and the VanEck Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (IDXJ) are both slated to shutter Oct. 7.

MES, which came to market in 2008, has only $6.8 million in assets. The fund is pretty costly to own, with an expense ratio of 1% and an average trading spread of 2.16%—total cost of ownership of this fund is $216 per $10,000 invested.

MES’ only competing fund is the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (GULF), which has $20 million in assets, and costs 0.88% in expense ratio. All-in costs for GULF, including trading spreads, are $151 per $10,000 invested.

The Indonesia fund, IDXJ, has gathered $5.9 million since it came to market in 2012. The fund trades with a wide average spread of 1.68%, which, combined with an expense ratio of 0.61%, makes the fund pretty costly to own, at about $229 per $10,000 invested.

IDXJ is one of only three Indonesia-focused ETFs, and the only one focused on small-cap equities.

Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected]