South Africa has been considered the prominent way to invest in the African market; however, a new country has taken the top spot in the latest ETF. TheStreet.com has broken down the components of Market Vectors Africa Index ETF (AFK) and explains that Nigeria and Financials are weighted the heaviest for country and sector, respectively. For starters, Nigeria makes up 32% of AFK with South Africa in second place at 25%. The other three countries that have a noteworthy portion of the ETF are Egypt (13%), Morocco (11%), and Equatorial Guinea (6%). Roger Nusbaum of TheStreet.com writes that this frontier market of Africa potentially has more potential for “modernization” than any other market.

With regard to sector investments in AFK, financials is the leader. The financial sector makes up one-third of the distribution within the 50-stock ETF due to large banks within each of the major countries. The next largest sector is basic materials, which carries 18% of the fund’s weight. Despite the great potential for growth in Africa, Mr. Nusbaum cautions investors of the volatility within a developing frontier market.

Investors now have a vehicle to track the performance of the Middle East region. WisdomTree has just debuted its newest ETF on the Nasdaq Stock Market, known as WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (GULF). Business Wire reports that GULF will provide exposure to about 70 dividend-paying companies located in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. President of WisdomTree, Bruce Lavine, discusses his view of the new fund in the following Business Wire quote, "The growing economies of the Middle East region, while driven by increasing revenues from oil exports, are becoming more diversified. We estimate that equities trading in the Middle East region now make up nearly 2% of the world’s total market capitalization. Further, the equity returns in the Middle East have historically demonstrated a low correlation to the U.S., developed, and even Emerging Markets, and may be a source of portfolio diversification.”

Claymore Securities has teamed up with The Bank of New York Mellon to debut the first U.S.-listed ETF to track frontier markets. Business Wire defines a "frontier market as a market of a country that is less developed than a traditional emerging market. The new fund, known as Claymore/BNY Mellon Frontier Markets ETF (FRN) is designed to track up to 41 countries considered to be within the frontier classification, such as Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Croatia, or Poland. Christian Magoon, President of Claymore, believes the intriguing aspect for investors of frontier markets is their growth opportunity, as they are currently in the early stages of their development and are considered the "next generation of emerging markets. FRN will link to The BNY Mellon New Frontier DR Index, which Business Wire reports is made up of companies with a minimum market capitalization of $100 million. Bank of New York Mellon, managing director Michael Finck provided his perspective with the statement, "U.S. investors have had little exposure to these smaller, less-developed markets, which are excluded from most benchmarks and overshadowed by the popular emerging markets.