In this episode of “What’s the Risk?” we take a look at the historic performance of the MVIS Australia Equal Weight Index. Some people would know the ETF that seeks to track the performance of this index as Van Eck’s MVW. Equal weight indices have become more topical as market cap weighted indices have shown increased concentration in a smaller number of companies at the top of the index.
For some investors their instinct tells them that this needs to be avoided and they’d be much better in an equal weighted index fund. This belief can be backed up by long term data showing that equal weight indices outperforming their cap weighted counterparts.
In regards to the MVIS Australia Equal Weight Index it’s not quite what investors might expect, it’s not 300 or even 200 of Australia’s largest companies equally weighted, at the moment it’s 75, so while investors may be avoiding concentration risk by using a product that tracks this index, they’re not achieving broad diversification.
