EWM vs QAT

EWMBiShares MSCI Malaysia ETF

QATDiShares MSCI Qatar ETF

In short

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.

QAT One ticker, one country. QAT tracks the MSCI All Qatar Capped Index with a tight basket of Qatari stocks, giving US investors direct access to a small Gulf market that barely registers inside a broad emerging markets fund.

Stated mandate

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

QAT The fund seeks to track an index composed of Qatar equities, providing targeted exposure to companies in Qatar and a way to express a single-country view.

Why people hold it

• 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

• QAT Direct Qatar exposure in a plain US-listed wrapper: no local brokerage, no currency account, just an index fund tracking the MSCI All Qatar Capped Index.ishares.com
• Launched in 2014 and run by iShares, so this is a long-running fund with a decade-plus of live history rather than a recent launch chasing a theme.
• About 30 holdings means you can actually read the portfolio and see what you own, instead of Qatar arriving as an unlabeled sliver of a broad emerging markets index.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• QAT The 0.60% annual fee is typical for single-country emerging markets funds, but cheaper options exist in that group: Franklin's FLMX charges a fraction as much for its country exposure.
• Roughly 30 stocks in one small market is concentration by design. Individual names and sector moves drive results, and there is no diversification cushion underneath.
• It lands in the lower reaches of our single-country emerging markets group, weighed down mainly by cost and by how closely it delivers on its stated index mandate. Payouts come once or twice a year, not quarterly.

Full EWM profile⁠

Full QAT profile⁠