ETF Evaluator: iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF () Follow This ETF

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF Overview

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF (AAXJ) is a passively managed International Equity Pacific/Asia ex-Japan Stk exchange-traded fund (ETF). iShares launched the ETF in 2008.

The investment seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index. The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of the index. The index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index designed to measure equity market performance of securities from the following 10 developed and emerging market countries or regions: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

About iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF (AAXJ)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.42 years: Jennifer Hsui (2012), Peter Sietsema (2025), Matt Waldron (2025) and Steven White (2025). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: MSCI EM NR USD index with a weighting of 100% and MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF has 967 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 42.7% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity ETF group. iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF has 99.1% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.6% There is 99.1% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF has 0.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $3 billion in total assets, which is above the $1 billion average for the Pacific/Asia ex-Japan Stk category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

AAXJ Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Pacific/Asia ex-Japan Stk category. iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF has an expense ratio of 0.72%, which is 26% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 10%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 36% for the Pacific/Asia ex-Japan Stk category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF returned -6.4%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Pacific/Asia ex-Japan Stk category had an average return of -2.7%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF has a trailing yield of 1.38%, which is below the 2.18% category average. The fund normally distributes its income semi-annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Jpn ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 20.1%, 0.4 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 35.4% over the past year (grade of C), 18.9% over the past three years (grade of C) and 7.1% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 9.0% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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