EWM vs UAE

EWMBiShares MSCI Malaysia ETF

UAECiShares MSCI UAE 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.

UAE A one-ticker slice of the Emirati stock market. It tracks a capped MSCI index of roughly 60 UAE companies, so no single name can swallow the fund, and it has been doing that job since 2014.

Stated mandate

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

UAE The Fund seeks to track the MSCI All UAE Capped Index, an index of UAE equities, using representative sampling rather than attempting to outperform the index.

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

• UAE One ticker, one market: UAE-listed equities in a standard US fund that tracks the MSCI All UAE Capped Index instead of picking stocks.ishares.com
• The word 'capped' is doing work. The index limits how large any single holding can grow, spreading the bet across roughly 60 names.ishares.com
• At 0.59% it sits right at the middle of the single-country emerging-market pack, the same sticker as iShares' Poland (EPOL) and South Africa (EZA) funds.
• A decade-plus as a plain index tracker: representative sampling of the benchmark, no manager discretion bolted on.

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.

• UAE 0.59% is real money next to broad emerging-market index funds, and cheaper single-country options exist (Franklin's Mexico fund, FLMX, charges 0.19%).
• About 60 stocks from a single country. Results ride on a narrow set of companies and on what happens in the UAE economy.
• Volume is moderate rather than deep and the fund is mid-sized, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on giant US index funds. Payouts come once or twice a year.

Full EWM profile⁠

Full UAE profile⁠