Latin American ETFs to Watch

Rudy Martin produces the Latin Stock Investing Web site.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Exchange-traded funds have been growing in popularity, and a number of these unique investment vehicles focus on Latin America.

Here's a look at some ETFs that focus on Latin America.

Global X/InterBolsa FTSE Colombia 20 ETF(GXG Quote), with a market capitalization of only a few million U.S. dollars, is the smallest ETF in the accompanying table.

It is fairly new, with an inception date in February 2009, and has a total expense ratio of 0.86% that is the highest of the diversified ETFs in the group. These factors combine to argue to hold off on consideration of this fund until it grows in size and hopefully reduces its expenses to shareholders. Its low market capitalization makes it difficult for arbitrageurs to keep its market price aligned with its net asset value per share.

Still, it is worth keeping track of. Colombia is one of a diminishing number of Latin American nations committed to constructive relations with the United States, despite the reluctance of Congress and the Obama administration to move ahead with a free-trade agreement with that country. It has been shedding its image as an area controlled by drug lords and is generally conservative and committed to capitalism.

Like all the funds on the list, GXG is a passively managed portfolio whose objective is to generally correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the FTSE Colombia 20 Index. The underlying Index is free float adjusted, liquidity tested and market capitalization weighted and designed to measure broad based equity market performance in Colombia.

Overview of Latin American Exchange-Traded Funds