Kenya's first-ever ETF opens for trading on the bourse

Kenya's bourse admitted its first ever exchange traded fund (ETF) on Monday, a cross-listing of the Barclays NewGold ETF, which was originally listed in South Africa. The Nairobi Securities Exchange has been investing in new infrastructure to include trading of new products like ETFs, to diversify from equities and bonds, and to deepen the market.

The NewGold ETF, which is a product of Barclays Africa through one of its units, will offer investors access to the gold market, in the local shilling currency.

Barclays said the NewGold ETF is the largest in Africa with a value of about $1.4 billion. Some 400,000 units will be made available to investors on the Kenyan bourse.