Big Discounts in Several Closed-End Funds

Meanwhile, the price you pay to own those investments has slumped: The shares have fallen from $32.19 to $30.87.

That's a remarkable 12% discount to the net assets: the equivalent of buying $1 worth of investments for every 88 cents.

The picture is almost as good over at the China Fund's main rival, the (GCH Quote)Greater China Fund (GCH), which is run by Barings Asset Management. Although the latest figures are not yet available, as of the start of this week the shares had widened to a 9.45% discount to net assets. Since then the share price has risen 92 cents to $22.95.

These are well-managed investment vehicles with good track records. Over the past five years they've done better than most open-end mutual funds that invest in China.

If Asia seems too volatile right now and you're looking for something closer to home, you may have been listening to Jim Cramer's advice on the three Ds -- in other words, buying a Diversified basket of stocks that have Defensive qualities and pay good Dividends.

First stop: three closed-end funds run by Eaton Vance (EV Quote) (EV) in Boston that follow precisely that philosophy. All three carry the conservative stamp of co-manager Judy Saryan, the mutual fund company's veteran utilities expert.

The (EVT Quote)Eaton Vance Tax Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (EVT) has slumped to a 9.8% discount to net assets. The shares, at $26.40, carry a wonderful 6% dividend yield. Dividends are paid monthly. The top 10 holdings, as of last quarter, included utilities such as Edison International (EIX Quote) and Germany's RWE and E.ON (EON Quote), along with Marlboro cigarette giant Altria(MO Quote), AT&T (T Quote), banks Wachovia(WB Quote) and HSBC(HBC Quote), and a few oil companies.