(Yicai) Feb. 29 -- J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s China retail arm said its exchange-traded fund tracking the new CSI A50 index of Chinese stocks hit its funding target ahead of time, buoyed by rising sentiment among Chinese mainland investors after recent gains in the A-share market. 

The new fund, called the JPMorgan CSI A50 Index ETF, reached its CNY2 billion (USD278 million) target after the deadline for subscriptions was moved to yesterday from March 1, the Shanghai-based mutual fund manager said on the same day.

Index compiler China Securities Index launched the CSI A50 of the 50 most representative firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses in early January. Earlier this month, 10 fund houses had been approved to issue the first ETFs based on the index, with JPMorgan Asset Management the sole wholly foreign-owned enterprise.

Financial firms and property developers are the most weighted stocks in the traditional SSE 50 Index, which does not reflect the transformation in China's industrial structure and economic development trends, according to Hu Di, director of the index and quantitative investment division at JPMorgan Asset Management. 

The new index covers leading companies in different industries, better representing the core assets in the mainland market, she added. 

Based on their market capitalization on Dec. 31, the CSI A50’s constituent stocks were worth a total of CNY13.5 trillion (USD1.88 trillion). Leading Chinese liquor maker Kweichow Moutai is the most valuable, followed by Ping An Insurance Group, battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology, China Merchants Bank, and home appliances maker Midea Group. 

J.P. Morgan Chase received approval to buy Shanghai International Trust's 51 percent stake in J.P. Morgan Asset Management, then known as China International Fund Management, in January last year, with the joint venture becoming the sixth foreign-owned fund house in the mainland.

With the recent pickup in Chinese stocks, foreign mutual fund companies unveiled plans for new funds. Mainland units of firms such as Schroders, Fidelity Investments, Neuberger Berman Group, and AllianceBernstein Holding are each set to launch new products next month or in April.

Editor: Martin Kadiev