WisdomTree's latest Tokyo ETF disclosures show that "commodity" is doing a lot of work. In the precious-metals vehicle, the gold, silver and platinum products each disclosed a 0.00% gap between per-unit asset value and the London benchmark-based value of the metal held per unit. In the separate commodity vehicle, the broad commodity ETF disclosed a -0.13% gap. The number is small. The explanation attached to it is not: the filing spends several paragraphs on how rolling futures can create gains in backwardation or losses in contango.
| Product | Assets | Per-unit asset value | Disclosed deviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold ETF (1672) | ¥1.08tn | ¥61,107 | 0.00% |
| Silver ETF (1673) | ¥417.1bn | ¥8,594 | 0.00% |
| Platinum ETF (1674) | ¥80.3bn | ¥23,744 | 0.00% |
| Broad Commodity ETF (1684) | ¥19.4bn | ¥2,337 | -0.13% |
Different valuation clocks
The two filings cover five precious-metals products under WisdomTree Metal Securities Limited and 14 broader commodity products under WisdomTree Commodity Securities Limited, both managed by WisdomTree Management Jersey. The commodity line-up ranges from a broad basket and energy to WTI crude, gasoline, soybeans, aluminum, copper, nickel, wheat and corn. In the excerpted daily figures, the gold fund carried ¥1.08tn in assets and a per-unit asset value of ¥61,107. Silver stood at ¥417.1bn and platinum at ¥80.3bn. The broad commodity ETF disclosed ¥19.4bn in assets, while the energy ETF disclosed ¥18.6bn.
The plumbing differs as well. The metals products are translated into yen using a WM/Reuters spot rate of ¥161.74 per dollar as of London 4pm on June 26. The broad commodity fund says its unit value is calculated after the relevant US futures markets close, then converted into yen at a Bloomberg rate of ¥161.76 per dollar as of New York 5pm.
Why it matters
For readers outside Japan, the useful read-through is not the daily disclosure ritual but the exposure hidden inside the label. One filing measures unit values against metal held per unit and London metal pricing. The other makes clear that returns can also be shaped by roll yield and the shape of the futures curve, not just the underlying commodity move. The broad commodity filing is explicit that contango can weigh on index value and ETF value, while backwardation can have the opposite effect, although it also says neither outcome is automatic. That is a helpful reminder that two products sitting in the same commodity bucket can arrive there through very different machinery.