Moreover, the Government Pension Investment Fund and other public pension funds are also utilizing the JPX-Nikkei 400 benchmark and related ETFs.
U.S. ETF investors can also track the benchmark index through the relatively new offerings Deutsche X-trackers Japan JPX-Nikkei 400 Equity ETF (NYSEArca: JPN) and iShares JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF (NYSEArca: JPXN). Over the past six months, JPN was 6.2% lower and JPXN was down 6.5%.
The two offerings show similar tilts in their sector allocations. JPN’s top sectors include 19.5% industrials, 18.7% consumer discretionary, 18.7% financials, 10.3% information technology and 9.2% health care. JPXN’s top areas include 20.4% industrials, 18.7% consumer discretionary, 17.3% financials, 10.0% consumer staples and 10.0% information technology.
Investors can also track the more recently launched currency-hedged JPX-Nikkei 400 ETFs that try to diminish the negative effects of a weakening yen currency, including the Deutsche X-trackers Japan JPX-Nikkei 400 Hedged Equity ETF (NYSEArca: JPNH) and the iShares Currency Hedged JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF (NYSEArca: HJPX).
Max Chen contributed to this article.