Daily ETF Watch: Japan ETF Shuttered

The large-cap Japan equity fund, brought to market by Precidian in July 2011, failed to attract much traction despite the ongoing popularity of Japan equity ETFs tied to Japan’s ongoing reforms under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s rule.

NKY gathered only some $44 million in assets since inception. Tracking an equal-weighted index of 225 Japanese stocks listed in Tokyo, the fund was a direct competitor to the iShares Japan Large-Cap ETF (ITF), which also remains small, with only $105 million in assets.

The bulk of investor interest when it comes to exposure to Japan in recent years has steered toward broad-market strategies that go beyond large-cap stocks. Funds such as the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ | B-97), a total market fund with $17.7 billion in AUM, or the currency-hedged takes on the space such as the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity (DXJ |B-66), with $10.6 billion, and the Deutsche X-trackers MSCI Japan Hedged Equity (DBJP | B-73), with $1.1 billion—have attracted most of the asset inflows.

iShares Renames Muni Funds

On a separate note, iShares has renamed a lineup of its muni bond ETFs, including several funds in its iBonds family. Tickers and strategies remained unchanged. They are as follows:

• iShares California AMT-Free Muni Bond changes to iShares California Muni Bond (CMF | B-83)
• iShares iBonds Mar 2018 Corporate ex-Financials changes to iShares iBonds Mar 2018 Term Corporate ex-Financials (IBCC | B-51)
• iShares iBonds Mar 2020 Corporate ex-Financials changes to iShares iBonds Mar 2020 Term Corporate ex-Financials (IBCD | C-70)
• iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Corporate ex-Financials changes to iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ex-Financials (IBCE | C-48)
• iShares iBonds Mar 2018 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Mar 2018 Term Corporate (IBDB | C-55)
• iShares iBonds Mar 2020 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Mar 2020 Term Corporate (IBDC | B-73)
• iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate (IBDD | C-52)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2016 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2016 Term Corporate (IBDF | B)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2018 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2018 Term Corporate (IBDH | B)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2017 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2017 Term Corporate (IBDJ | D)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2019 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2019 Term Corporate (IBDK | D)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2020 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2020 Term Corporate (IBDL | D)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2021 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2021 Term Corporate (IBDM | D)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2022 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2022 Term Corporate (IBDN | F)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Corporate (IBDO | F)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Corporate (IBDP | F)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Corporate changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Corporate (IBDQ | F)
• iShares iBonds Sep 2020 AMT-Free Muni Bond changes to iShares iBonds Sep 2020 Term Muni Bond (IBMI | B)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2021 AMT-Free Muni Bond changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2021 Term Muni Bond (IBMJ | F)
• iShares iBonds Dec 2022 AMT-Free Muni Bond changes to iShares iBonds Dec 2022 Term Muni Bond (IBMK | F)
• iShares National AMT-Free Muni Bond changes to iShares National Muni Bond (MUB | B-79)
• iShares New York AMT-Free Muni Bond changes to iShares New York Muni Bond (NYF | B-83)
• iShares Short-Term National AMT-Free Muni Bond changes to iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond (SUB | B-52)

Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected].