iShares [profile] preps for the launch of iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Index Fund, which will be focusing on the least mature and least liquid economies all around the globe, according to a report from Cinthia Murphy of IndexUniverse.

iShares' new offering appears to be the pioneer fund in the pure-play frontier. The first Frontier Markets ETFs, launched by Guggenheim in 2008, had allocations in countries that were emerging and not frontier.

"Frontier markets are often favored by investors looking for diversification because their returns tend to be less correlated with the broad markets, which can be appealing in a global market where correlations have spiked across all asset classes in recent years," Dennis Hudachek, Index Universe ETF analyst explains.

This new fund will track the MSCI benchmark, providing exposure in 20 frontier markets including Argentina, Bangladesh, Croatia, Estonia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. It will charge an expense ratio of 79 basis points.  

Edited by: HFD


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