The Asian city-state's exchange is getting ready to launch the first inverse exchange traded fund in almost a decade, a report said.

Singapore’s stock exchange is preparing for the first new listing of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds in eight years, a sign of how the market for these index-tracking funds is evolving, according to Bloomberg.

The report said Singapore Exchange has published a new web page about the products, described as "a form of passive collective investment schemes (like ETFs) and structured as open-end funds", following revised guidelines from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in August. (This publication has checked the SGX website and was unable to locate the page; it has contacted SGX about the matter and may update in due course.)

Singapore’s exchange, which is in a battle to win business from rivals such as in Hong Kong, mainland China and other parts of Asia, sees the offering as another attraction for investors and firms.

A leveraged ETF uses derivatives and debt to amplify the returns of an underlying index. An inverse fund mimics returns that can be obtained by short-selling assets such as stocks.

Such ETFs have at times fuelled concerns that some index-tracker products are unduly complex and carry more risks than investors may be aware of. Singapore listed the first inverse ETF in Asia in 2009, but there have been no new issues since, amid consumer protection fears, the report added.