Asia's first gold-based exchange traded fund (ETF) started trading on the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday.

The ETF, known as StreetTRACKS Gold Shares, are backed by physical gold and denominated in U.S. dollars.

The investment product is designed to track gold price and trade like any stock. Investors can buy a minimum of one lot of 10 shares, with each share priced about a-tenth of the spot price for an ounce of gold.

State Street, a financial services provider, is the marketing agent for streetSTRACKS in Singapore.

The ETF closed down 30 cents at 57.30 Singapore dollars (about 36.2 U.S. dollars), a 0.5 percent discount from its opening price of 57.60 (about 36.45 U.S. dollars). Over 9,000 shares changed hands on the first day.