The other emerging market low-volatility ETF, the PowerShares S&P Emerging Markets Low Volatility Portfolio (NYSEArca: EELV), tries to reflect the performance of the S&P BMI Emerging Markets low Volatility Index, which takes the 200 least volatile stocks of the S&P Emerging BMI Plus LargeMid Cap Index over the past 12 months. EELV has a 0.29% expense ratio and a 2.59% yield.
Country allocations include Malaysia 22.1%, South Africa 18.6%, Taiwan 14.3%, Chile 10.9%, Brazil 8.4%, Colombia 5.8%, Mexico 3.2%, Philippines 2.4%, South Korea 2.3% and Morocco 2.3%.
Sector allocations include consumer discretionary 9.0%, consumer staples 14.4%, energy 3.2%, financials 27.0%, health care 2.6%, industrials 9.2%, information technology 1.6%, investment companies 1.1%, materials 8.6%, telecom services 10.3% and utilities 12.9%.
“Investors of all stripes can benefit from less-volatile stocks thanks to a puzzling phenomenon: Over the past fifty years, the least-volatile stocks have performed about as well as the market but with far less risk,” according to Morningstar analyst Samuel Lee.
For more information on the emerging markets, visit our emerging markets category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.