Lyxor Asset Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Société Générale, has launched the Lyxor ETF Japan (Topix), the first exchange-traded fund to be listed on
Lyxor Asset Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Société Générale, has launched the Lyxor ETF Japan (Topix), the first exchange-traded fund to be listed on the Singapore Exchange based on the Topix Tokyo stock price index.
The Topix is a free-float adjusted market capitalisation-weighted index composed of 1,728 companies listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and offers a wider range of Japanese stocks than the other leading Japanese equity market index, the Nikkei 225. The index rose by 96.9 per cent between January 1, 2003 and August 9 this year.
The Lyxor ETF Japan (Topix) aims to achieve a performance corresponding closely to the underlying index, enabling investors to participate in the performance of the Japanese economy and achieve market diversification through a single vehicle traded in real-time on the Singapore Exchange. The fund is targeting correlation of more than 99.99 per cent.
‘The Topix index is widely used as the key benchmark by institutional investors throughout the world for measuring the performance of the Japanese economy,’ says Sandra Lee, managing director and head of retail, marketing and product development at Société Générale, who heads the Lyxor ETF platform in Asia.
‘The launch of Lyxor ETF Japan (Topix), makes a total of seven ETFs – six Asian equity ETFs and one commodities ETF – listed in Singapore, signifying our commitment to developing a comprehensive range of investment tools to help investors achieve their goals.
‘Lyxor ETF Japan provides investors with the combined benefits of diversification, transparency, intra-day liquidity and cost efficiency. Investors can buy and sell the fund through brokers or internet brokerage accounts at any time throughout the trading day, like normal company shares.’
Hsieh Fu Hua, chief executive of the Singapore Exchange, says: ‘Once again, we are pleased to work with Lyxor to develop our ETF marketplace and position SGX as the one-stop ETF platform for access to the Asian markets.
‘The Lyxor ETF Japan (Topix) will provide our investors with another cost-effective avenue to gain exposure to the Japanese market. It also adds breadth to the current suite of Japanese products that are actively traded on SGX, ranging from futures and options to structured warrants.’
Atsushi Saito, president and chief executive of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, says: ‘Topix is based on all domestic stocks listed on the TSE First Section, and is used widely throughout the world not only as an economic and statistical indicator representing Japan, but as a benchmark for Japanese stocks and a vehicle for investment.
‘We firmly believe that access to Japanese stock market will be further facilitated through Topix, and we have high expectations that usage of the index will become even more widespread in the future.’
