The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM) remains a solid long-term exposure to Malaysia, but is downgraded to Hold after a strong rally. Malaysia's economy is resilient, with upgraded 2025 growth projections and contained inflation, supporting a positive outlook versus regional peers. EWM trades at a discount to larger emerging markets, offering value, but faces Q4 headwinds and heavy financials exposure.
EWM which focuses on 30 stocks from Malaysia is up by only low single-digits this year, and underperforming emerging markets and global markets quite significantly. We now feel EWM could witness better prospects ahead. Malaysia's macro outlook is stabilizing, with improved GDP growth, supportive government policies, and central bank rate cuts boosting domestic demand.
iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF offers investors exposure to some of the largest firms trading on Malaysia's stock market. Almost 60% of its holdings are established banks and utilities, with zero technology firms, lessening the possibility of significant outperformance. The ETF is hardly cheap based on a price-to-earnings ratio of 15x, particularly by emerging market standards.
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The company in question is an investment fund that primarily focuses on mirroring the performance of the large- and mid-capitalization segments of the Malaysian market. By allocating at least 80% of its assets into the component securities of its underlying index or into investments with nearly identical economic characteristics, the fund seeks to provide its investors exposure to a specific segment of Malaysia's economy. Given that its strategy revolves around tracking an underlying index tailored to the Malaysian market's larger and mid-sized companies, this fund operates with a non-diversified investment approach. This strategy is reflective of the fund's goal to replicate the index's performance as closely as possible, aiming to offer investors the potential for returns aligned with those of the targeted market segments.
The fund invests a significant portion of its assets, at least 80%, directly into the component securities that constitute its underlying index. This direct investment approach is designed to closely mirror the performance of the large- and mid-capitalization segments of the Malaysian market covered by the index. By investing directly in these component securities, the fund aims to achieve a performance correlation with its underlying index, providing investors with a targeted investment exposure to the Malaysian market.
In addition to investing directly in the component securities of its underlying index, the fund also allocates assets into investments that have economic characteristics substantially identical to those of the component securities. This method includes investing in financial instruments or derivative products that mimic the economic behavior of the securities within the underlying index. Such investments are selected to enhance the fund's ability to replicate the performance of its index, thereby offering an investment product that closely aligns with the dynamics of the large- and mid-capitalization segments of the Malaysian market.