Best Nikkei 225 ETFs to Buy in Singapore

The Nikkei 225 closed at a record high 70,000 the first time in June 2026 before a chip-stock selloff pulled the index down to 64,141 on 17 July 2026. The index is up roughly 30% year-to-date, on top of a 26.18% gain in 2025 and a 19.21% gain in 2024.

The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index of 225 companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market, calculated since 1950 and reviewed twice a year, every April and October. The index weights each constituent by an adjusted share price rather than market capitalisation, and applies a price adjustment factor with per-stock capping so no single stock can dominate the index, a mechanic that has still concentrated influence in semiconductor and technology names as Japan's chip sector has rallied.

Investors in Singapore cannot buy the Nikkei 225 itself. What they can buy is an ETF that tracks it, and the market where that ETF is listed changes the currency it trades in, how dividends are taxed, and which brokerage account can actually hold it.

Three broad routes exist. Japan-listed ETFs trade in yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. UCITS ETFs domiciled in Luxembourg or Ireland trade on European exchanges in yen, euro or sterling. Broad or currency-hedged Japan-equity ETFs listed on US exchanges offer a third kind of exposure entirely, one that doesn't track the Nikkei 225 at all. Neither the Singapore Exchange nor any US exchange currently lists a Nikkei 225 ETF, which rules out two routes many investors default to for other benchmarks.

This guide ranks the Nikkei 225 ETFs available to Singapore investors across Japan-listed and UCITS routes, explains why no SGX- or US-listed option tracks the index directly, sets the Nikkei 225 against TOPIX and MSCI Japan, and walks through the currency, cost, tax and buying considerations that determine what an investor here actually takes home.

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What is a Nikkei 225 ETF?

A Nikkei 225 ETF is a fund built to mirror the performance of the Nikkei 225 index by holding the same 225 Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market companies the index tracks, in proportions designed to match the index's price-weighted methodology.

The category label alone does not tell you everything a fund actually holds. Two points matter beyond the name:

•    Price weighting is not market-cap weighting. The Nikkei 225 sizes each constituent's weight by its adjusted share price, not its total market value, though a price adjustment factor and per-stock capping keep any single stock from dominating the index. SoftBank Group, TDK and Advantest can therefore carry more influence over the index than their share of Japan's total stock-market value would suggest, while a large company with a low share price carries a comparatively small weight.

•    "Nikkei 225 ETF" and "Japan ETF" are not interchangeable. Several widely held Japan-equity funds, including Singapore's own SGX-listed Japan ETF, track a different benchmark entirely and hold a different set of companies, sector mix and weighting than the Nikkei 225.

Seven of the index's ten largest constituents by weight, Advantest, Tokyo Electron, SoftBank Group, TDK, Fanuc, KDDI and Ibiden, are technology names, alongside Fast Retailing and Recruit Holdings from consumer goods and services. That concentration is a direct product of price weighting: several of Japan's highest-priced shares happen to be semiconductor and technology-adjacent companies, so the index's return has become increasingly tied to the same global chip cycle that drove its July 2026 pullback. The chart below shows how that has played out year by year.

Figure 1: Nikkei 225 calendar-year returns, 2023 to 2026 year-to-date.

Best Nikkei 225 ETFs to buy from Singapore

Six funds currently give Singapore investors direct exposure to the Nikkei 225: three trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and three are UCITS trackers on European exchanges. This table lines all six up before the detailed breakdowns below.

Source: BlackRock, Amova Asset Management, Nomura Asset Management, DWS, justETF and BlackRock iShares, as of 20–21 August 2026. Fees shown including applicable tax where the issuer publishes both bases.

Japan-listed trackers carry the lowest headline fees, but they need a brokerage that can reach the Tokyo Stock Exchange and convert SGD into yen. UCITS trackers cost more except for the Xtrackers funds, but trade on exchanges more Singapore brokerages already support. SGX and US exchanges are covered separately below because neither currently lists a fund that tracks the Nikkei 225 directly.

Japan-listed Nikkei 225 ETFs in detail

Three funds currently trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange with direct Nikkei 225 exposure.

Source: BlackRock, Nomura Asset Management and Amova Asset Management, as of 20–21 August 2026. Trust fees shown including Japanese consumption tax for a consistent basis across all three.

iShares Core Nikkei 225 ETF (1329) carries the lowest fund fee of the three, at 0.0495% including tax, and the deepest name recognition through BlackRock's iShares brand. It suits investors whose brokerage supports the Tokyo Stock Exchange and who want the most direct, lowest-cost route to the index.

NEXT FUNDS Nikkei 225 ETF (1321) is Nomura Asset Management's long-running Nikkei tracker and, at roughly ¥17.59 trillion, the largest of the three by assets under management. Fund size alone doesn't establish which of the three trades with the tightest spread on the exchange; investors who specifically care about on-exchange liquidity should check actual trading volume and bid-ask spread on their broker's platform rather than assume size settles the question.

Listed Index Fund 225 (1330), now managed by Amova Asset Management, charges 0.082% including tax, a fee that sits between the other two, cheaper than 1321 but higher than 1329, and is a reasonable alternative where a specific brokerage or trading condition favours it over the other two.

UCITS Nikkei 225 ETFs

UCITS ETFs give investors outside Japan a way to hold the Nikkei 225 through European exchanges, without needing a brokerage account with direct Tokyo Stock Exchange access.

Source: DWS, justETF and BlackRock iShares factsheets, as of 21 August 2026 unless otherwise noted.

All three funds physically replicate the Nikkei 225. DWS also runs a EUR-hedged Nikkei 225 share class (2D, ISIN LU1875395870) at 0.19% TER, which hedges the fund's euro exposure against the yen rather than a Singapore investor's SGD exposure. It's included here for completeness rather than as a core recommendation for an SGD-based investor.

Are there SGX-listed Nikkei 225 ETFs?

No SGX-listed ETF currently tracks the Nikkei 225 directly. The exchange lists Nikkei 225 index futures and options, and a Nikkei 225 Total Return futures contract, but these are derivatives for traders, not a cash ETF suited to a long-term buy-and-hold allocation.

SGX-listed alternatives for Japan exposure

The closest SGX-listed Japan-equity product is the Lion-Nomura Japan Active ETF (Powered by AI), trading as JJJ in SGD and JUS in USD. It is actively managed against TOPIX as its reference benchmark, not the Nikkei 225, and its holdings and sector weights are set by the fund manager rather than by the Nikkei 225's price-weighted methodology. An investor buying JJJ/JUS for Nikkei 225 exposure would end up in a different, actively managed fund benchmarked to a different index entirely.

Are there US-listed Nikkei 225 ETFs?

No US-listed ETF tracks the Nikkei 225 today. The MAXIS Nikkei 225 Index Fund, ticker NKY, stopped trading on NYSE Arca on 11 March 2016 and was liquidated a week later, and no direct successor has since listed on a US exchange. Older guides that still reference NKY as an investable fund are out of date.

US-listed alternatives for Japan exposure

What US exchanges do offer are broad or hedged Japan-equity ETFs that are frequently marketed alongside Nikkei 225 coverage but track a different, market-cap-weighted benchmark instead.

Source: etfdb.com, retrieved 23 August 2026.

EWJ and BBJP are both market-cap-weighted, so their largest holdings and sector mix differ from the Nikkei 225's price-weighted concentration in high-priced technology shares. DXJ seeks to reduce the effect of yen movements against the US dollar through currency hedging, although hedging does not eliminate currency effects or costs completely, and its approach still differs fundamentally from the unhedged yen exposure the Nikkei 225 ETFs above carry. None of the three should be labelled a Nikkei 225 ETF, even though all three appear in the same "Japan ETF" search results.

Nikkei 225 vs TOPIX vs MSCI Japan

The Nikkei 225 is Japan's most widely quoted index, but it is not the only, or even the most representative, way to measure the Japanese stock market. TOPIX and MSCI Japan are the two benchmarks investors most often weigh against it.

Source: Nikkei Indexes, MSCI, fund issuer factsheets, as of 21 August 2026 and 31 July 2026 (MSCI constituent count).

The practical difference is concentration. A market-cap-weighted index like TOPIX or MSCI Japan sizes each holding by the company's total market value, spreading influence across a much larger set of businesses. The Nikkei 225's adjusted-price weighting concentrates influence in whichever constituents carry the highest adjusted prices at any given time, which today skews the index toward semiconductor and technology names, tempered only by the index's own per-stock capping mechanism. Neither approach is more correct. They are simply different answers to the question of how to measure "the Japanese stock market," and an investor choosing between Nikkei- and TOPIX-tracking ETFs is choosing between those two answers, not picking a better or worse version of the same thing. The graphic below sets out why that weighting difference matters in practice.

Figure 2: Why the Nikkei 225 behaves differently from TOPIX and MSCI Japan, comparing adjusted-price weighting against market-cap weighting.

How the yen affects your Nikkei 225 ETF return

A Nikkei 225 ETF's return in SGD depends on two things happening at once: how the underlying index performs, and how the yen moves against the Singapore dollar over the same period. As of 22 August 2026, 1 SGD converts to roughly 125.23 JPY, and that exchange rate is not fixed.

Worked example: If the Nikkei 225 rises 10% in yen terms and the yen simultaneously weakens 8% against SGD, the approximate SGD return is:

1.10 × 0.92 − 1 = 1.2%

before fund fees, brokerage costs and tracking difference. A strong index return can therefore translate into a much smaller SGD gain, or a loss, if the yen depreciates enough over the same period. The reverse also holds: a weaker index return paired with a strengthening yen can lift the SGD result above the headline index number.

Trading currency is not currency exposure. Buying a Nikkei-linked fund that trades in USD, GBP or EUR does not remove yen exposure. The trading currency only determines how you place the order; the underlying 225 companies are Japanese businesses whose earnings, valuations and dividends are set in yen. An investor who wants to specifically reduce that currency movement needs a currency-hedged strategy, such as WisdomTree's DXJ, which seeks to reduce yen exposure against USD but, as covered above, does not track the Nikkei 225.

Japan's monetary policy is a live input to that currency path. The Bank of Japan held its policy rate at around 1.0% at its 31 July 2026 meeting, following a hike to that level on 16 June 2026, the highest level since 1995. A tighter BOJ policy stance tends to support the yen, while a pause or reversal can weigh on it, and either direction feeds directly into the SGD return on an unhedged Nikkei 225 ETF.

Accumulating vs distributing Nikkei 225 ETFs

Two of the Nikkei 225 ETFs compared above offer an accumulating share class: the Xtrackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF 1C and the iShares Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF. Every Japan-listed tracker (1329, 1321, 1330) and the Xtrackers 1D UCITS fund distribute income as cash instead.

Xtrackers prices its accumulating (1C) and distributing (1D) share classes identically at 0.09% TER, so an investor who wants dividends reinvested automatically does not pay extra for that convenience, the choice between the two comes down to income preference rather than cost. iShares also offers an accumulating share class, but at 0.48% TER, roughly five times Xtrackers' cost for the same automatic-reinvestment feature; an investor choosing iShares over Xtrackers 1C is paying a real premium for the iShares brand and structure, not for accumulation itself.

Singapore has no personal capital gains tax and generally does not tax foreign dividend income received by individuals, so the accumulating-versus-distributing choice for a Nikkei 225 ETF is mostly about convenience rather than a Singapore tax outcome. Accumulating funds still incur any Japanese dividend withholding at the fund level before reinvestment; choosing accumulating does not avoid that withholding, it simply removes the extra step of manually reinvesting a cash payout.

The real cost of owning a Nikkei 225 ETF

The published fund fee is the starting point, not the full cost of ownership.

A Japan-listed ETF charging around 0.05% a year is not automatically the cheapest to own overall if the investor's brokerage charges a wide FX spread converting SGD into yen, or a high minimum commission on Tokyo Stock Exchange trades. The full comparison is trust fee plus brokerage plus FX conversion plus bid-ask spread, not the headline fee alone.

Tax considerations for Nikkei 225 ETFs in Singapore

Singapore does not impose capital gains tax on ordinary investment gains, and foreign dividend income received by individuals is generally not taxable in Singapore. What differs by domicile is what happens to the dividend before it ever reaches you.

Japan-listed ETFs (1329, 1321, 1330). Dividends from Japanese-listed shares paid to a Singapore tax resident are generally subject to Japan's treaty-reduced 15% withholding rate under the Singapore-Japan tax treaty, rather than the standard 20.42% rate that applies without a treaty claim. Whether a Nikkei 225 ETF's trust distribution receives identical treatment to a direct share dividend, and what documentation is needed to claim the reduced rate, depends on the specific fund structure and should be confirmed with your broker or a tax adviser rather than assumed.

UCITS ETFs (Luxembourg/Ireland). Japan withholds tax on the dividends paid by the underlying Japanese companies before the money reaches the fund, at whatever rate applies to the fund's own domicile under Japan's treaty network, which is not necessarily the same rate an individual Singapore investor would get. Once inside the fund, Luxembourg and Ireland generally do not apply a further layer of withholding tax on distributions to non-resident investors, so most of an investor's effective Japan-side tax drag comes from what was withheld at the fund level, not from a second round of European withholding.

US-listed Japan alternatives (EWJ, DXJ, BBJP). These carry a consideration the Japan-listed and UCITS Nikkei 225 ETFs above do not: US-situated assets held by a non-US person are subject to US estate tax above a US$60,000 exemption threshold, at graduated rates that can run as high as 40% on the value above that threshold. This is a real estate-tax exposure, not merely a filing formality, and it comes from the fund's US domicile rather than from its underlying Japanese holdings. It does not apply to the Japan-listed or Luxembourg/Ireland-domiciled Nikkei 225 ETFs covered above.

How to buy a Nikkei 225 ETF in Singapore

1.   Choose between a Japan-listed tracker (1329, 1321 or 1330) or a UCITS tracker (Xtrackers or iShares), based on the exchange your brokerage can reach.

2.   Confirm your broker supports the relevant exchange, the Tokyo Stock Exchange for Japan-listed funds, or the London Stock Exchange, Xetra, SIX or Borsa Italiana for UCITS funds.

3.   Search by ticker for Japan-listed ETFs (1329, 1321, 1330), or by ISIN for UCITS funds, since UCITS tickers vary by exchange and share class.

4.   Convert SGD into the trading currency you need, JPY, GBP or EUR depending on the listing.

5.   Compare brokerage commission, FX spread, bid-ask spread and the fund's own fee before placing the order, not the fund fee alone.

Where to buy Nikkei 225 ETFs in Singapore

Once you've decided which Nikkei 225 route fits your portfolio, the next question is whether your brokerage actually gives you access to the exchange that ETF trades on. The table below focuses on the exchanges the direct Nikkei 225 ETFs discussed in this article trade on, Tokyo, London and Xetra, rather than the SGX/US/UK pricing most brokerage comparison tables default to.

Source: Interactive Brokers Singapore, moomoo Singapore and Saxo Markets, as of 23 August 2026. 

Can you use SRS for Japan equities?

Direct access to a Nikkei 225 ETF using SRS funds is limited. There is currently no SGX-listed Nikkei 225 ETF, and most traditional SRS brokerages mainly support SGX-listed products, which rules out a direct SRS route into any of the Japan-listed or UCITS trackers compared above for most investors.

StashAway's ETF Explorer lets SRS investors access broad Japan-equity allocations, including a currency-hedged option and a standard Japan-equities option covering 180+ large- and mid-cap Japanese companies at a 0.19% expense ratio, using SRS funds directly, whether as a one-time deposit or a recurring investment. This is broad Japan exposure, not a Nikkei 225 tracker, since neither of StashAway's Japan-equities options specifically tracks the Nikkei 225 index

Source: Ministry of Finance, Singapore, SRS contribution caps as of 23 August 2026.

SRS contributions may qualify for tax relief, subject to the overall personal income tax relief cap of S$80,000. Contributions must be completed by 31 December, or an earlier deadline set by the SRS operator, to qualify for relief in the following Year of Assessment.

How Nikkei 225 ETFs can fit into your portfolio

A Nikkei 225 ETF is a specific allocation to Japan's price-weighted headline benchmark, not a complete substitute for broader Japan or global equity exposure. Investors holding an S&P 500-heavy or Singapore-heavy portfolio can use one to add developed-market exposure outside the US; investors who already hold a broad, market-cap-weighted Japan fund such as a TOPIX or MSCI Japan tracker should recognise that a Nikkei 225 ETF adds concentration in the index's higher-priced, technology-tilted constituents rather than genuinely new diversification.

The decision that matters most is not which Nikkei 225 ETF has the lowest headline fee. It's whether an investor specifically wants the Nikkei's price-weighted, technology-concentrated exposure, or whether a market-cap-weighted alternative like TOPIX or MSCI Japan better fits the role Japan is meant to play in the rest of the portfolio, before narrowing down to the most cost-efficient Japan-listed or UCITS vehicle available through their own brokerage.