The Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank ( ADCB) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched on Sunday its ADCB MSCI UAE Fund, the first index fund in the Middle East, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Index funds, also known as passive funds or tracker funds, track the movement of market indices to deliver returns that closely match those indices.

"This fund offers investors a unique, low cost, and liquid way to invest in the UAE equity markets", Mohammed Salih Al Hashemi, ADCB's fund manager, was quoted as saying.

"In essence, the objective of index funds is to closely track the index to which they are benchmarked while keeping costs to a minimum," he said.

"This fund will track the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) UAE index of companies which comprises selected stocks

listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market and the Dubai Financial Market," he said.

Source: Xinhua