Betashares will expand its suite of Nasdaq exchange-traded funds (ETF) available to Australian investors with the launch of two new investment vehicles later this month, taking its overall ETF offering to 90.
Subject to final regulatory approval, Betashares is set to release on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) the Nasdaq Next Gen 100 ETF (ASX code: JNDQ) and Nasdaq 100 Equal Weight ETF (ASX code: QNDQ).
The investment firm currently offers the Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX code: NDQ) to investors and the Nasdaq Next Gen 100 ETF will invest in the 100 largest Nasdaq-listed non-financial companies by market capitalisation beyond the Nasdaq-100 Index.
It said the new fund would provide exposure to “the rising stars of the Nasdaq” that were at an early stage of development, but had potential to become leaders in their respective sectors in the same way as Tesla, Netflix and Docusign, which moved from the Nasdaq Next Generation 100 Index to the Nasdaq-100 over the past 15 years.
The Nasdaq 100 Equal Weight ETF will invest in an equally weighted portfolio of Nasdaq 100 companies and offers diversification benefits and lower stock and sector concentration risk.
The two new investment vehicles will expand the number of Nasdaq-specific ETFs offered to four, including the firm’s existing Nasdaq 100 ETF and the currency-hedged version of that fund, and are complementary exposures to the existing funds, according to Betashares chief executive Alex Vynokur.
Vynokur added the launch of the new funds comes as recent research by the firm and Investment Trends found more ETF investors plan to allocate to international equities in the next 12 months, with that figure increasing from 42 per cent to 53 per cent over the past year, after many moved to cash and fixed income ETFs last year due to rising interest rates.
“We continue to see strong adoption of international equities ETFs within investor portfolios as they better recognise the importance of diversification across asset classes and investment styles,” he said.
“These two new funds will complement NDQ and further assist with this important objective by providing additional tools with which to build out an allocation to international equities.”
