A data and analytics firm has joined Singapore's stock market to launch thematic indices of the sort that can be tracked by exchange traded funds.

Singapore's stock exchange has teamed up with data and analytics firm FactSet to roll out indices capturing global and regional themes that investors may want to embrace.

FactSet and Singapore Exchange are launching four indices: SGX-FactSet Asia Technology Advantage EW Index; SGX-FactSet Global Cybersecurity Index; SGX-FactSet Global Robotics Index and SGX-FactSet Asia Healthcare Select EW Index.

Thematic investing has been a feature of the global investment world for some time. One of the drivers of the idea is to invest in a firm not because of where its stocks is listed, but because of its exposure to particular trends, such as ageing, demand for security, the rise of an affluent Asian middle class and demand for more energy efficiency, for example.

Thematic investing is said to avoid some of the country biases and distortions of holding equities on a national or purely sectoral basis. The rise of exchange traded funds, which typically track indices, has also seen this thematic trend at work.  According to data provider ETFGI, there were 447 thematic ETFs as at the end of 2016, up from 183 in 2012.