Exchange traded funds indexed to Japan are among the many single-country ETFs in the red this year. Japan’s Topix Index on Monday fell to the lowest level since 1983.
“The Topix has fallen more than 20% since March 27 amid a deepening debt crisis in Europe and slowing growth in China,” Bloomberg News reported.
The nearly $4.8 billion iShares MSCI Japan (NYSEArca: EWJ) is down 5% year to date and trading near a 52-week low. However, the ETF is well above its 2009 thanks to strength in the Japanese yen, since the fund does not hedge its foreign-currency exposure.
“Investors are just fleeing risk assets,” said ATI Asset Management chief investment officer Simon Burge, in a Reuters report Monday.
“Bond yields are at an all-time low. Even in the global financial crisis we didn’t see bond yields at the levels that they have reached now … This is a flight from risk assets that is unprecedented,” Burge said.
iShares MSCI Japan
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