WisdomTree Japan Hedged ETFs Tops $2B in AUM

Bolstered by a rapidly depreciating yen and surging Japanese equities, the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund DXJ has topped the $2 billion in assets under management level, the ETF's sponsor announced Tuesday. DXJ had $2.06 billion in AUM as of January 18. Since December 17, the day after Shinzo Abe cruised to victory to become Japan's next prime minister, DXJ has surged 9.83 percent and that includes a loss of nearly 2.3 percent on Tuesday. Over the same time, the iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund EWJ, the largest Japan-specific ETF, is up just over three percent. To that end, it may not be surprising that inflows to DXJ have been on the rise. However, it is the pace of those inflows that is perhaps stunning. DXJ went from $516 million in AUM in early December to $956.2 million on December 20. In other words, the ETF's AUM total has more than doubled during over the past month, a time in which U.S. markets were closed three times for Christmas, New Years Day and in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. DXJ has thrived not only because of its focus on Japanese exporters that are less dependent on the country's domestic economy for the bulk of their sales, but also because the ETF offers a hedge against U.S. dollar/yen fluctuations. "Newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been very effective through his plans and aggressive rhetoric to weaken the yen, and as a result, there has already been improved market sentiment in the world's third largest economy," said WisdomTree Research Director Jeremy Schwartz in a statement. Earlier this month, WisdomTree WETF said the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund DEM topped $5 billion in AUM, meaning it took DEM just 11 months to go to $5 billion in assets from $3 billion. Shares of WisdomTree, the only publicly traded pure play ETF issuer, have surged almost seven percent since January 15, the day the New York-based announced DEM had crossed $5 billion in AUM. For more on ETFs, click here.