The iShares S&P/TOPIX 150 (ITF) will track the S&P/TOPIX 150 share index.
The Amex will also begin trading today in three additional new iShares based on an S&P Index, a Goldman Sachs and MSCI Index. Trading will be launched in the following funds:
- iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index Fund (Symbol: ILF)
- iShares Goldman Sachs Natural Resources Index Fund (Symbol: IGE)
- iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan Index Fund (Symbol: EPP)
"The American Stock Exchange continues to make history with our ETF product line," said Amex Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Salvatore F. Sodano. "Together with our partners, we're delighted to list at the Amex the first US equivalent to a Japanese ETF listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Through our partnership with Barclays Global Investors, we remain committed to bringing investors a wide variety of investment options and to increasing the breadth and scope of our ETF marketplace," he added.
"The flexibility and simplicity of the iShares fund family increases with the addition of the four new funds trading on the American Stock Exchange," said Lee Kranefuss, Barclays Global Investors' CEO of Exchange-Traded Funds Group. "Investors can make a focused investment, whether it's long or short, on regional economic behaviors and specific sectors. With the iShares regional and single country international funds investors can invest in the world and under or overweight a region or country," he added.
Mr. Masaaki Tsuchida, President and CEO of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) said, "Working with our strategic partner, Amex, the global leader and pioneer in ETFs, to launch the S&P/TOPIX 150 ETF is the first of many fruits that the Amex-TSE alliance will surely bear. TSE hopes that this auspicious relationship with the Amex will continually strengthen through further joint collaborations."
The S&P/TOPIX 150 Index developed by Standard & Poor's with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is comprised of 70% of the market value of the Japanese equity market. The Index includes 150 highly liquid securities selected from each major sector of the Tokyo market
The S&P Latin America 40 Index, also developed by Standard & Poor's, is made up of selected equities trading on the exchanges of four countries. The Index includes highly liquid securities from major economic sectors of the Mexican and South American equity markets. Companies from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile are represented in the index.
The Goldman Sachs Natural Resources Sector Index was developed by Goldman Sachs as an equity benchmark of U.S.-traded natural resource-related stocks. The Index includes companies in the following categories: extractive industries, energy companies, owners and operators of timber tracts, forestry services, producers of pulp and paper and owners of plantations.
The iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan Index seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the aggregate in the Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore market, as measured by the MSCI Pacific ex-Japan Index.
The Amex pioneered the concept of ETFs in 1993 with the introduction of trading in SPDRs® -- Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts®, an exchange-traded unit investment trust based on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index®. There are now 111 ETF products trading on the Amex, with assets currently totaling more than $67 billion.
