A relatively unknown name in the exchange-traded fund industry, Asia Tigers Fund Inc. (GRR) is boasting hefty returns while the US markets continue to stagnate. The fund, which suffers from low volume and a relatively small market cap, continues to be a top performer, showing gains of 54% year to date.

Managed by Blackstone Asia Advisors LLC, the firm is one of the best diversified of any exchange-traded fund on the market today. According to a press release, its top ten holdings represent just 23.4% of the total assets of the fund, with its biggest position in Samsung Electronics, which makes up just 4.3% of the portfolio. The fund is not only diversified by company, but also by nation. Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Taiwan and India are home to the largest portions of the fund and represent 79.3% of assets.

Recently, investors have been able to buy the fund at a discount, often as much as 7% by July 31. Very few closed end funds ever trade at such a hefty discount.

A freshly launched exchange-traded fund from Emerging Global Shares promised broad diversification amongst emerging markets, though the fund’s holdings show otherwise. The Emerging Global Shares’ Dow Jones Emerging Markets Titans Composite Index Fund (EEG: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) seeks to invest in a vast array of stocks, but its current picks are not necessarily geographically diversified.

The exchange-traded fund is weighted like most selective, rather than broad, emerging-market funds, with much of its holdings resting in areas know as BRIC, or Brazil, Russia, India and China, according to The Street. The fund invests a combined 40% in China and Brazil, followed by 18% in India and 14% in Russia, which brings the BRIC total to a combined 72%. The ETF’s largest holding, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, comprises a dramatic 8% of the fund and 40% of the total invested in China.

Other funds typically diversify in other Asian countries, choosing to invest in countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, which both exhibit fundamentally strong manufacturing economies. As with any exchange-traded fund, investors should read each ETF’s prospectus completely before investing, as the name of the fund often differs from its actual investing strategy.

Upon digesting the news that China Mobile would purchase a 12% stake in a Taiwanese telecom, Taiwanese stock as a whole climbed nearly 7% to reach their session allotted maximum. As traders halfway around the world embarked upon the gravy train, cashing in on the iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (EWT: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), iShares realized it had a problem on its hands.

With the Taiwan stock exchange frozen, the underlying index for the iShares fund could no longer move upward, even as money poured into the fund. Subsequently, iShares announced it would not be fulfilling create orders on the open-end fund, and it kept the exchange-traded fund closed on Thursday to eliminate the risk that additional buyers would dilute shareholder equity or buy shares at artificially low prices, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The fund reopened for business as usual on Friday and will continue trading as it did before the market surge.

Among the eight Ivy League universities of the Northeastern United States, the institution with largest financial endowment diversifies with domestic and international ETFs. Despite the diversification of ETFs internationally, the $37 billion endowment for Harvard University is not immune to the current economic woes, according to Indie Research. The top three positions of the endowment were invested in ETFs that include, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), and iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News). The Indie Research article identifies other international ETFs in the portfolio such as iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) and iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (EWT: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News). Harvard’s president, Drew Faust, communicated performance of the endowment portfolio, according to Bloomberg, saying, “Given the breadth and the depth of the present downturn, even well-diversified portfolios are experiencing major losses.”

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has just increased international exposure as Barclays Global Investors (BGI) listed two new ETFs. The new ETFs will provide investors on the ASX with access to the BRIC companies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), as well as the largest companies of Asia. The Investor Daily article identifies the first of the two funds as iShares MSCI BRIC ETF (BKF), which follows more than 150 companies that make up the MSCI BRIC Index. This BRIC index most heavily invests in energy and financials. The second newly issued ETF is iShares S&P Asia 50 ETF (AIA). This fund tracks the 50 largest companies within Asia having a majority of the companies being based in Korea or Taiwan.