ETF Securities (ETFS) has released a range of 14 commodity funds on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with trading commencing on March19.

The commodity ETFs consist of 9 funds tracking individual asset classes, such as aluminium, copper, corn, crude oil and natural gas.

The issuer has also unveiled five baskets of commodity ETFs which track Dow Jones-UBS indexes, including the All Commodities DJ-UBSCI and Industrial Metals DJ UBSCI.

"The new securities track indices created by Dow Jones Indexes and each individual commodity index tracks a designated futures contract and is designed to reflect the returns from investing in commodities," says ETFS chairman Graham Tuckwell.

The latest offering follows the firm's launch of physically backed precious metals funds on the Tokyo exchange last August. ETFS says this represented the first time investors could gain access to silver, platinum, palladium or a basket of precious metals in Japan.

These commodity ETFs are open-ended securities that can be bought and sold intraday by investors on the exchange, through regulated brokers or approved market makers.