EWW vs FLSA

EWWAiShares MSCI Mexico ETF

FLSACFranklin FTSE Saudi Arabia ETF

In short

EWW Mexico in one ticker, doing that job since 1996. Roughly 40 of the country's biggest listed names, capped so no single company runs the show, for 0.50% a year.

FLSA Saudi Arabia in one ticker: roughly 70 Saudi-listed large and mid caps, tracked passively for 0.39% a year, well under the typical single-country emerging-market fund.

Stated mandate

EWW The fund seeks to track an index composed of Mexican equities and provides targeted exposure to companies in Mexico.

FLSA The Fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the FTSE Saudi Arabia Capped Index through a passive indexing approach.

Why people hold it

• EWW 0.50% a year, below the typical single-country emerging-market fund. Cheap is not the pitch here, but you are not paying a premium for the exposure.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund that trades actively, which is why it has long been the default way US investors get Mexico exposure in a brokerage account.
• The 25/50 index rules keep any one issuer from swallowing the portfolio, a real safeguard in a market where a handful of giants dominate the exchange.ishares.com
• Tracks its MSCI Mexico index tightly and ranks among the strongest builds in the single-country emerging-market group.

• FLSA At 0.39% a year it undercuts the 0.59% median for single-country emerging-market ETFs, so less of the Saudi market's move leaks out to fees.
• Simple mandate: one published index, the FTSE Saudi Arabia Capped Index, tracked passively, with caps that keep the largest names from swallowing the basket.
• Running since 2018 and part of Franklin's low-cost FTSE country lineup, it spreads exposure across about 70 stocks instead of a thin handful of mega caps.

Worth knowing

• EWW About 40 stocks, one country, one currency. Peso moves and Mexican politics land straight in the return, with no diversification to soften them.
• FLMX tracks Mexico for 0.19%. If cost is the deciding factor, that gap is the trade-off against EWW's deeper trading and longer track record.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly. This is an equity exposure vehicle, not a steady income line.

• FLSA Small fund, light volume. Spreads can be wide, limit orders matter, and funds that stay subscale can be closed or merged by their issuer.
• The Saudi Exchange trades Sunday to Thursday, so US-hours pricing often rests on stale local quotes and premiums or discounts to net asset value can open up.tradinghours.com
• One country, roughly 70 stocks. Concentration is the design, so the ride tracks a single economy rather than a diversified emerging-market basket.

Full EWW profile⁠

Full FLSA profile⁠