Nasdaq launches European tracker ETF

The Nasdaq Stock Market has launched a Nasdaq-100 European Tracker, an exchange-traded fund (ETF), on the Nasdaq Europe exchange today under the symbol EQQQ. The fund is designed to follow the Nasdaq 100 index and is composed of the top hundred non-financial services companies listed on Nasdaq.

The fund is a European version of the world’s most actively traded ETF and is authorised as a fund in the UK, Belgium and Ireland, It is denominated in euros and will clear and settle in Europe.

EQQQ will provide European investors with low cost access to the Nasdaq 100 index, said John Jacobs, chief executive of Nasdaq financial products. “There is great potential in the European market which has accounted for the majority of new ETF product launches in 2002,” said Jacobs. “Our intention is that EQQQ will follow the success of our US product.”

ETFs are used as a diversified investment tool for private investors and offer a variety of different portfolio strategies, including shorting and leveraging index exposure within hedge strategies.

Research from US investment bank Morgan Stanley published last month found that EFT listings in Europe have grown from around $450 million in April 2000 to $9.5 billion by the end of October this year.