SAN FRANCISCO (Commodity Online): BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) on Thursday announced the launch of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index Fund (NYSE Arca: EEMS) by iSharesExchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business. It enables investor’s access to the next generation of emerging market growth.
"With the new iShares Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF investors can efficiently access the next generation of small cap companies with 100% local exposure. By combining the new iShares Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF with the broadly diversified iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, investors can gain access to 100% of the investable emerging market universe with no overlap in core holdings." said Noel Archard, Head of US iShares Product at BlackRock.
"In the long-term, investors can look to emerging market small cap stocks as the driver of the next wave of emerging market growth; In the short-term, emerging markets may be more defensively positioned than conventional wisdom might suggest." said Russ Koesterich, iShares Global Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock.
"Because emerging market small cap stocks offer greater exposure to local consumer sectors --and those sectors are more tied to domestic demand than foreign demand -- they should be better insulated from issues facing developed markets today," he added.
The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index Fund is benchmarked to the MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index, which is generally seen as the institutional index standard. It is a float-adjusted market cap weighted index that is rebalanced quarterly.
The index's top three country holdings as of July 31, 2011, are Taiwan (19.86%), Korea (17.35%) and China (16.46%). The top three country sector exposure weightings are consumer discretionary (17.09%), industrials (16.90%) and financials (16.59%).
BlackRock is a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for
institutional and retail clients worldwide. iShares is the global product leader in exchange traded funds with over 460 funds globally across equities, fixed income and commodities, which trade on 19 exchanges worldwide.
