Country-Specific ETFs Winners & Losers For $100 Oil

Alright, let's just say $100+ oil because the reality Brent crude, not West Texas Intermediate, is the international benchmark and Brent closed at $114.82 a barrel on Thursday, nearly $13 NYMEX-traded West Texas Intermediate. Even if some excess supply, say courtesy of Saudi Arabia, finds it way to market and knocks oil below $100 a barrel, there is still a reasonable chance oil heads back to that level or beyond later this year and that's good news for select country-specific ETFs and bad news for others. Let's take a look at some of the winners and losers on a regional basis. Eastern Europe Winners: Russia-ETFs Everyone knows how energy-dependent the Russian economy and that's not a bad thing when oil's at $100 a barrel. The Market Vectors Russia ETF RSX is the more liquid play, but don't discount the iShares MSCI Russia Index Fund ERUS, which features a higher weighting to energy at 53%. Losers: Poland ETFs Take your pick of the Market Vectors Poland ETF PLND or the iShares MSCI Poland Investable Market Index Fund EPOL. Poland is a net oil importer and a fair amount of that oil comes from Russia. Poland was mentioned as a potential loser due to $100 oil in a Credit Suisse report published on Wednesday. Note: The Czech Republic was also mentioned as a potential loser in the Credit Suisse report. In the absence of ETFs specific to this country, the SPDR S&P Emerging Europe ETF GUR and the S&P Emerging Markets Infrastructure Index Fund EMIF both offer some Czech exposure, so they could prove to be ETFs to avoid. Asia: Winner: Malaysia The iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund EWM could continue its move to $15 and beyond because Malaysia is an oil exporter, as the Credit Suisse report notes. Losers: The Philippines and Thailand The iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index Fund EPHE and the iShares MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index Fund THD may soon discover, if they have not already, that being net oil importers is no fun.