EPHE vs EWM

EPHECiShares MSCI Philippines ETF

EWMBiShares MSCI Malaysia ETF

In short

EPHE A single-ticker route into the Philippine stock market: roughly 30 large, mid and small caps from an MSCI index, in an iShares wrapper that has traded since 2010. Narrow by design, so the country's biggest listed names set the tone.

EWM Malaysia in one ticker, running since 1996. EWM tracks the MSCI Malaysia index, a cap-weighted slice of Kuala Lumpur's largest listed companies, and charges less than the typical single-country emerging markets fund.

Stated mandate

EPHE The fund seeks to track an index composed of Philippine equities.

EWM The fund seeks to track an index composed of Malaysian equities.

Why people hold it

• EPHE Straight Philippines exposure in one US-listed fund, tracking the MSCI Philippines IMI 25/50 Index, which reaches past the mega caps into mid and small caps.ishares.com
• Fee sits at 0.59%, dead center for single-country emerging-market funds and the same sticker as EPOL and EZA.
• The 25/50 capping rules built into its index limit how much weight any one issuer can carry, a real constraint in a market this small.
• iShares has run it since 2010 on a plain index mandate: no manager stock picks, no strategy drift.ishares.com

• EWM Listed in 1996, which puts it among the oldest ETFs still trading. Nearly three decades of doing one job: hold Malaysian equities, track the index.ishares.com
• 0.50% a year, under the median for its single-country emerging markets peer group and below iShares siblings EPOL and EZA at 0.59%.
• Sits in the upper tier of the single-country emerging markets funds we grade, helped by a low fee and a milder volatility profile than much of that group.
• No guesswork about the mandate: BlackRock builds it as a way to express a single-country view on Malaysian companies, and the index name is right on the tin.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• EPHE About 30 stocks in the whole basket, so a handful of Philippine heavyweights drive most of the movement, up or down.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized, and US hours never overlap Manila's, so the share price can drift from the value of the stocks inside.
• One country, one currency: peso moves land in your dollar return, and the index counts dividends after foreign withholding tax. Payouts come once or twice a year, not monthly.

• EWM Market-cap weighting in a modest-sized market means a short list of Kuala Lumpur heavyweights drives most of the fund's day-to-day move.stockanalysis.com
• One country, one currency. The holdings trade in ringgit and the fund is unhedged, so currency moves against the dollar land in your return alongside the stocks.ishares.com
• Volume is moderate rather than deep, and payouts arrive once or twice a year instead of quarterly. Limit orders are the friendlier way in and out.

Full EPHE profile⁠

Full EWM profile⁠