Today we are featuring top-performing “Japanese” equity mutual funds, which invest at least half of their net assets in equity securities of Japanese companies.
Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Japanese Equity Funds.
3 Great Choices
Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies (FJSCX) seeks long-term capital growth and invests at least 80% of assets in securities of Japanese issuers and other investments that are tied economically to Japan.
The fund invests in smaller market capitalization companies. The companies are similar to companies in the Tokyo Stock Exchange Second Section Stock Price Index or the Japanese Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (JASDAQ) Stock Index. As of April 2009, its portfolio turnover was 273%.
Nicolas Price has been lead manager of the fund since October 2008. Price has worked with Fidelity Investments since 1993.
Henderson Japan-Asia Focus A (HFJAX) is a non-diversified fund that was incepted in February 2006. It seeks long term capital appreciation.
The fund invests 75% of its assets in Japanese companies and at least 80% of its assets in Asian companies, which includes Japanese firms. The definition of a company as Japanese or Asian is linked to the country of the firm, the location of its primary office and the principal trading market of its stock.
Shareholders have to make a minimum initial investment of $500 to enter this Zacks#1 Rank (“Strong Buy”) fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.75% against a category average of 1.74%.
Iain Clark has been lead manager of the fund since January 2006. Clark has over 30 years of investment management expertise and is the chief investment officer of Henderson.
Rydex Japan 2x Strategy A (RYJSX) was incepted in February 2008. It seeks investment results that correspond to twice (200%) the performance of the fair value of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average.
The fund primarily invests in companies in its underlying index and derivatives and other instruments whose performance is expected to correspond to that of the underlying index. It is non-diversified.
The fund pays dividends annually. It has an expense ratio of 1.53% against a category average of 1.74%.
Michael P. Byrum has been lead manager of the fund since 26-Feb-08. Byrum has been with Rydex Investments since its inception in 1993.
Discover Many More Funds
Learn more about the new Zacks Mutual Fund Rank and discover some of the best market-beating mutual funds by browsing our mutual funds section. This part of Zacks.com offers a variety of tools, including mutual fund research, a new mutual fund screener, helpful answers to frequently asked questions and quick access to prospectuses and other information.
By applying the Zacks Rank to mutual funds, investors can find funds that not only outpaced the market in the past but are also expected to outperform going forward.
