Emerging Markets : Poland

Currently, there are two U.S.-listed ETFs that offer broad-based exposure to the economies of Eastern Europe, including the MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index Fund (ESR) and the SPDR S&P Emerging Europe ETF (GUR). However, for investors looking for more pure play exposure on the surging Polish economy, the following two ETFs represent intriguing choices:

iShares MSCI Poland Investable Market Index Fund (EPOL)
This fund from iShares launched in late May of 2010 has already managed to gain close to $75 million in assets. EPOL tracks the MSCI Poland Investable Market Index, a free float adjusted market capitalization-weighted benchmark designed to measure the performance of stocks listed on exchanges in Poland. Unlike many emerging market funds, EPOL isn’t dominated by mega cap stocks; 38% of assets go towards large caps and 42% to mid caps. From a sector perspective, the fund is heavily concentrated in financials–which make up close to half of assets–with large weightings also going towards industrial materials (13%) and energy (13%) firms.

Market Vectors Poland ETF (PLND)
The original ETF tracking the Polish markets, this fund from Van Eck follows the Market Vectors Poland Index, a diversified benchmark consisting of about 25 companies either headquartered in Poland or deriving at least 50% of their revenues from the country. Currently, the fund maintains heavy weightings towards the financial (37%) and energy (17%) sectors. In terms of top holdings, copper and silver miner KGHM Polska Miedz (8%) takes the top spot and is closely trailed by two banks: PKO Bank Polski S.A. (7.7%) and Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A. (7.4%).

more on emerging markets ETFs, see http://www.artremis.com/article/etf_emerging_markets.html