‘ETFs are sure bet for Qatar, Gulf bourses’

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are sure bet for Qatar as well as other Gulf bourses to increase the liquidity and to enhance global visibility for their listed entities, according to a UK-based asset management firm Blackrock.

“If more ETFs are in the region, there should be more liquidity. International investors will have more access to the region,” Blackrock vice president Robert Blackwell told Gulf Times in an interview.

ETFs are mostly (but not exclusively) index-based open-ended funds that can be bought and sold as quickly and easily as ordinary shares on a stock exchange. They provide investors with the opportunity to access markets that were previously closed to them.