As part of a trend known as smart beta, the Japanese financial group is to launch and list three ETFs later this month.

Nomura Asset Management, part of Japan-listed financial conglomerate Nomura, intends to roll out three new exchange traded funds to track indices that replicate leveraged exposure to Japanese equities which profit from market declines.

The ETFs will track the performance of the JPX-Nikkei 400 Leveraged (2x), JPX-Nikkei 400 Inverse (-1x) and JPX-Nikkei 400 Double Inverse (-2x) indices.

The funds, part of a trend of so-called “smart beta” investing, will be launched on 21 August and listed on 24 August. They are called NEXT FUNDS JPX-Nikkei 400 Leveraged Index Exchange Traded Fund;  NEXT FUNDS JPX-Nikkei 400 Inverse Index Exchange Traded Fund, and NEXT FUNDS JPX-Nikkei 400 Double Inverse Index Exchange Traded Fund.

One common definition of a smart beta fund is one that tracks a style index or uses a mechanical investing strategy to obtain returns associated with a particular strategy without the cost of active management.