/C O R R E C T I O N -- Nikko Asset Managment/.

In the news release, "Nikko Asset Management" issued yesterday, March 2, by Nikko Asset Management, we are advised by a representative of the company, that the second paragraph should read, "Two of the four funds, "Nikko New Health Sector Equity Open Fund" and "Nikko Sector Selection Fund (G-portfolio (Iron&Steel)", have won this prestigious award for the second consecutive year," rather than "Two of the four funds, "Nikko New Health Sector Equity Open Fund" and "Nikko Sector Selection Fund (N-portfolio (Real-estate) )", have won this prestigious award for the second consecutive year," as originally issued inadvertently. The complete, corrected release follows:
Nikko Asset Management

Four Funds Named Best by Lipper
TOKYO, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Nikko Asset Management Co. Ltd. (Nikko AM) announced today that four of Nikko AM's funds: "Nikko New Health Sector Equity Open Fund", "Nikko Sector Selection Fund (N-portfolio (Real-estate) )", "Nikko Sector Selection Fund (G-portfolio (Iron&Steel) )" and "Nikko Mutant", have been selected first in their categories in the "Lipper Fund Awards Japan 2006" awarded by Lipper Japan, a subsidiary of Reuters Japan Limited.
Two of the four funds, "Nikko New Health Sector Equity Open Fund" and "Nikko Sector Selection Fund (G-portfolio (Iron&Steel)", have won this prestigious award for the second consecutive year.
For "Lipper Fund Awards Japan 2006", Lipper Japan selected the best funds from among approximately 3,000 publicly offered, open-ended investment trusts and foreign investment trusts that are registered for sale in Japan, with at least 36 months of performance history. The funds were categorized in accordance with the Lipper Global Classification and quantitatively assessed based on two different calculation periods, over three years and over five years. Nikko AM's four funds have been recognized for their high risk-adjustment return in each classification.

  Best Fund Award (Fund Name)      Lipper Classification 

  Nikko New Health Sector Equity   Equity Sector Pharmaceuticals and Health 

  Open Fund                        Care 

                                   (Calculation Period: 5 years) 

  Nikko Sector Selection Fund      Equity Sector Real Estate Holdings Japan 

  (N-portfolio (Real-estate) )     (Calculation Period: 5 years) 

  Nikko Sector Selection Fund      Equity Sector Basic Industries 

  (G-portfolio (Iron&Steel) )      (Calculation Period: 3 years) 

  Nikko Mutant                     Equity Japan 

                                   (Calculation Period: 3 years) 

Commenting on the receipt of the awards, Nikko AM's president and Chief Investment Officer, Bill Wilder, said, "Nikko AM is honored that several of our funds have received awards again this year. This shows that all the professional and experienced specialists at Nikko AM are working hard for the best performance for our investors. I would like to express our sincere appreciation to all our customers, distribution staff, everyone at FuNNeX Asset Management Inc. and all our employees for making this possible."

  For further information, please contact: 

  Naho Yohda / Aiko Takemiya, Public Relations Dept. 

  +81-(0)3-5157-6223 

  Yohda_naho@nikko-am.co.jp 

  About Lipper 

Lipper, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters, is a global leader in supplying mutual fund information, analytical tools, and commentary to fund companies, financial intermediaries and media. Founded in 1973, Lipper tracks 125,000 funds worldwide through its offices in major capitals in North America, Europe and Asia. Its products and services provide accurate, insightful, and timely mutual fund data and analysis.

  About General Methodology of Lipper Fund Awards -- Group Awards 

  -- Asset types: Equity, Bond, Mixed Asset 

  -- Individual asset type winners must have at least 3 funds in the 

     relevant asset class. The winner is the group with the highest average 

     risk-adjusted return (same measurement with "Consistent Return" of 

     Lipper Leaders) in the asset class. 

  -- The overall group winner must have at least 3 funds in each asset 

     class. The winner is the group with the highest average risk-adjusted 

     return (Consistent Return of Lipper Leaders) across all three asset 

     classes. 

  About Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd. 

Established over 45 years ago, Nikko AM is a leading Japanese asset management company, offering investors a full array of investment management products and advisory services. Its investment trusts are distributed through a network of approximately 200 partner securities companies and banks. The firm offers investors access to both Nikko AM's funds that invest mainly in Japanese equities, fixed income, and REITs and, through its third-party sub- advisory platform, "World Series", access to a global range of top-performing, independent asset managers over a diverse range of asset classes.
In February 2005, Nikko AM's expertise in asset management was recognized when the company received the Lipper Award for Best Fund Group, based on its outstanding performance in three asset class categories: equity funds, fixed income funds and mixed asset funds.
Additionally, Nikko Alternative Asset Management, Inc. ("NAAM"), a subsidiary of Nikko Asset Management, provides alternative investments expertise and solutions to investors. NAAM provides investors access to internally developed products, as well as to external, individual hedge funds and fund of hedge funds, through its "AlphaPlus" line of products. NAAM's alternative investments experience spans over a decade.
Nikko AM has assets totaling 9.7 trillion yen ($82.2 billion) under management, as of December 31, 2005. It offers approximately 230 public investment trusts, ranging from basic to innovative products, to meet the diversified needs of retail and institutional investors. The company employs over 400 people in Tokyo, New York, London and Singapore.