Region & Country ETF Weekly: South Korea and Latin America Drive Regional Momentum

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Weekly Channel Summary

The Region & Country ETF channel concluded the week of January 30, 2026, with a total of $267B in Assets Under Management (AUM) across 185 ETFs and 36 issuers. The channel saw significant investor activity with $1.54B in net inflows over the past 5 days. This momentum contributes to a strong start for the year, with Year-to-Date (YTD) flows reaching $7.53B and trailing one-year flows totaling $31.91B. Market participation remains robust, with three new ETF launches occurring within the last three months.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

The Americas region led the major composites this week with a strong 3.00% return, bringing its YTD performance to 15.35%. At the country-specific level, South Korea was the standout performer with a weekly gain of 7.98%. Conversely, Indonesia was the primary laggard, dropping -7.11% on the week. Despite the weekly volatility in certain emerging markets, all four major regional composites remain in positive territory for the year.

Category Performance Snapshot

Category WTD 1 Month 3 Month 6 Month YTD 1 Year
Americas 3.00% 15.69% 22.69% 39.79% 15.35% 62.35%
Eurozone 1.45% 5.63% 9.71% 14.61% 5.48% 36.93%
Asia-Pacific 1.25% 5.27% 4.27% 15.52% 5.44% 32.79%
Africa-Middle East 0.83% 7.30% 9.44% 17.42% 7.56% 33.17%

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

The MKOR (Matthews Korea Active ETF) was the channel’s top performer this week, gaining 9.37%. On the downside, Indonesian exposures faced significant headwinds, with IDX (VanEck Indonesia Index ETF) and EIDO (iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF) posting the week’s deepest losses at -7.27% and -6.94%, respectively.

Ticker Fund Name WTD Performance
Top Performers
MKOR Matthews Korea Active ETF 9.37%
FLKR Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF 8.64%
EWY iShares MSCI South Korea ETF 7.44%
KDEF PLUS Korea Defense Industry Index ETF 6.48%
TUR iShares MSCI Turkey ETF 6.36%
Bottom Performers
IDX VanEck Indonesia Index ETF -7.27%
EIDO iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF -6.94%
VNAM Global X MSCI Vietnam ETF -3.40%
KWT iShares MSCI Kuwait ETF -3.25%
KSTR KraneShares SSE STAR Market 50 Index ETF -2.90%

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The channel attracted a total of $1.54B in net new money this week. The Americas category received the most substantial interest, gathering $904M in inflows and bringing its total AUM to $33.9B. Asia-Pacific also saw significant demand with $540M in new capital. While overall sentiment was positive, the Japan-focused products within Asia-Pacific saw notable pressure, accounting for the primary outflows in that region.

Category Flows Summary

Category Fund Count AUM 5 Day 30 Day 90 Day YTD 1 Year
Americas 18 $33.9B $904M $2,793M $3,766M $2,753M $6,101M
Asia-Pacific 103 $145.9B $540M $3,552M $6,514M $3,541M $10,123M
Eurozone 53 $84.5B $83M $1,025M $2,191M $1,019M $14,988M
Africa-Middle East 11 $3.1B $17M $221M $292M $221M $700M

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

The ILF (iShares Latin America 40 ETF) led all inflows this week by a wide margin, drawing $491M in new capital. In contrast, major Japanese and Chinese exposures saw withdrawals, led by EWJ (iShares MSCI Japan ETF) and MCHI (iShares MSCI China ETF), which lost -$205M and -$101M respectively.

Ticker Fund Name 5-Day Flow
Inflows
ILF iShares Latin America 40 ETF $491M
EWY iShares MSCI South Korea ETF $401M
EWT iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF $217M
EWZ iShares MSCI Brazil ETF $183M
CQQQ Invesco China Technology ETF $75M
Outflows
EWJ iShares MSCI Japan ETF -$205M
MCHI iShares MSCI China ETF -$101M
BBJP JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF -$42M
DXJ WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund -$38M
CXSE WisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Fund -$25M

Issuer League Table Update

iShares continues to dominate the competitive landscape with a 50.69% market share, followed by JPMorgan at 15.05%. iShares was the overwhelming leader in weekly flows, gathering $1,286M. On the flip side, WisdomTree saw the largest net outflows among major brands, losing -$62M over the 5-day period.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Brand Fund Count AUM AUM Market Share
iShares 64 $135.59B 50.69%
JPMorgan 5 $40.24B 15.04%
Vanguard 2 $40.08B 14.98%
WisdomTree 10 $11.69B 4.37%
Franklin 18 $9.57B 3.58%

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow

Brand 5-Day Flow
Inflows
iShares $1,286M
Franklin $88M
Global X $77M
Outflows
WisdomTree -$62M
KraneShares -$5M
Lazard -$3M

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Disclosures

This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. All investments, including ETFs, involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Investors should consider their investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing.

This analysis was developed by the team at ETF Action. We leverage advanced AI tools to assist in the drafting and refinement of our content, based on our expert prompts, direction, and final review.