IQ Japan Mid Cap ETF (RSUN), the first ETF targeting the mid cap segment of the Japanese stock market, was introduced last week (6/2/11). The underlying float adjusted market cap weighted index of 100 stocks seeks to track the overall performance of the mid capitalization sector of publicly traded companies domiciled in Japan and primarily listed on the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges.
Index IQ defines the mid cap universe as those Japanese issuers whose market capitalizations fall below the top 70% ranking (which are the large caps) and above the bottom 15% ranking (which are the small caps). This 70%-85% range bridges the gap between existing large cap and small cap products.
Sector breakdown is Industrials 23.2%, Financials 17.7%, Consumer Discretionary 15.6%, Materials 15.4%, Technology 9.1%, Consumer Staples 8.3%, Transportation 3.7%, Health Care 3.7%, Energy 2.3%, and Utilities 1.0%.
The fund currently has 99 holdings with the five largest being Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd 2.1%, Teijin Limited 1.8%, Hamamatsu Photonics KK 1.7%, Fukuoka Financial Group 1.6%, and UBE Industries 1.6%.
There haven’t been many new product introductions that focus on Japan recently. I wrote an article called ‘The Rundown On Japan ETFs’ back in March. Subsequent to that story, Invesco and Deutsche Bank teamed up to bring us PowerShares DB Japanese Govt Bond Futures ETN (JGBL) and PowerShares DB 3x Japanese Govt Bond Futures ETN (JGBT). Additionally, the First Trust Japan AlphaDEX Fund (FJP) launched on 4/19/11 using a quantitative approach to selecting 100 large cap Japanese stocks.
RSUN’s expense ratio is capped at 0.69% and additional background material is located in the press release, summary, fact sheet (pdf), and prospectus (pdf).
Disclosure covering writer, editor, and publisher: No positions in any of the securities mentioned. No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned. No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.