I have a new fund to share with you today. It is the iShares MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index Fund (ENZL), the first-ever pure play exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering exposure to New Zealand. Launched Sept. 1, the fund is just starting to build a daily trading volume, but it already has caught my attention.

The fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index. The index is a free-float, adjusted-market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the performance of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in New Zealand. As of July 31, 2010, the index held 23 securities with its heaviest weightings in three sectors: materials, 23.17%; telecommunication services, 16.25%; and consumer discretionary, 14.05%. Its top three holdings at the time were Fletcher Building Ltd, 19.85%; Telecom Corp of New Zealand, 16.25%; and Auckland Intl Airport Ltd., 7.78%.

As you likely know, this year has been a real roller-coaster ride for equity investors. For that reason, you understandably may feel frustrated and skittish about where exactly to put your money. Amid the uncertainty, one positive sign that I have noticed is that commodity-producing economies have been able to weather financial storms fairly well this year due to their vast natural resources. One such commodity-rich country that has received relatively little attention is New Zealand.

Despite New Zealand’s low profile among fertile territories for investing, the World Economic Forum just released its Annual Global Competitiveness Report and ranked the country 23rd out of 139 countries for its business climate. The criteria for the rankings include macroeconomic policies; the strength of public and private institutions; the quality of education and infrastructure; and the efficiency of markets for goods, labor and capital. New Zealand ranked especially well in strength of investor protection, ethical behavior of firms, and health and primary education. Those attributes should help to assure you and other investors that the country is a good place to put your money.

Without a track record of performance, the fund may not be a place where you want to invest your money right now, but I think it’s worthy of tracking. If the fund shows early promise and the market increasingly rewards commodity investments, the new fund could do well.

If you want advice from me about which ETFs to buy and to sell, I encourage you to sign up for my ETF Trader service by clicking here. As always, I am pleased to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to contact me if you have one. To send your question to me, simply click here. You may just see your question answered in a future ETF Talk.