It is a passive single-country ETF that tracks an index of large and mid-cap stocks in the Malaysian equity market. It gives exposure to leading Malaysian companies in sectors such as financials, industrials, and consumer goods.

It suits investors who want concentrated exposure to the Malaysian market and can tolerate the volatility of a single emerging market as well as currency risk.

It is an ETF managed by iShares using a passive (index-tracking) approach.

It tracks the MSCI Malaysia Index, which is made up of large and mid-cap stocks in the Malaysian equity market. It spreads its holdings across leading Malaysian companies in financials, industrials, consumer goods, and other sectors according to market capitalization weight. By concentrating on a single country, Malaysia, it directly reflects the performance of the Malaysian economy and its companies.

• Single-country exposure to Malaysia
• Diversified across leading companies

Assets under management (AUM) stand at $229.2M, and the Expense Ratio is 0.50% per year.

Compared with broad emerging market ETFs and other single-country ETFs, the main points of comparison are its Malaysia concentration and its holdings mix.

Malaysian equities are driven by the emerging Asian economy, global risk appetite, commodity prices, and currency strength. They tend to rise when risk appetite improves and commodities strengthen, and to weaken when investors turn risk-averse. As a single emerging market, volatility tends to be high.

Fund flows into Malaysian equities diverge depending on the emerging Asian economic outlook, exchange rate trends, and commodity prices, and money sometimes shifts into related products when interest in emerging Asian investing grows. It is also worth noting that performance can vary with the ringgit exchange rate and policy changes.

Its strength is exposure to leading Malaysian companies, while single-country concentration, currency, and emerging market risk are considerations.

For diversification across emerging markets as a whole, direct substitutes include EEM and VWO, and for exposure to neighboring Singapore, products such as EWS are also worth comparing. The three products shown in the table, EWU, EWG, and EWC, invest in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada respectively, so their country exposures differ. What differentiates this ETF is its narrow exposure to the single country of Malaysia.

Here are the points to review before investing in EWM. Exposure to leading Malaysian companies is attractive, but single-country concentration, currency, and emerging market risk should be checked in advance. It is also a good idea to compare it with broad emerging market products and other single-country products.

Malaysian political and policy changes, a slowdown in the emerging Asian economy, and the ringgit exchange rate are the main variables for short-term performance, and because of its single emerging market concentration, volatility can be higher than for diversified products. Declines can be sharp during risk-averse periods.

It is a suitable candidate for investors who want concentrated exposure to the Malaysian market. If you want to diversify across emerging markets as a whole, consider products such as EEM and VWO, and if you want concentrated exposure to Malaysia, it is advisable to compare this product alongside them before choosing.