Index ETFs

An ETF for folks who want to invest in...Iran

You can't trade it if you're an American, but the Tehran Stock Exchange is about to see the first Iranian ETF, CNBC has learned.

A trader speaks with a stock market official beneath the electronic board at the Tehran Stock Exchange, Sept. 15, 2010.
Caren Firouz | Reuters

The investment firm Turquoise Partners is behind an exchange-traded fund that will mirror the TSE 30 index, which comprises the 30 largest publicly traded Iranian companies.

"Our aim is to create different types of investment instruments for a variety of investor appetites," the CEO of Turquoise Partners said in a statement. "There has always been a demand from local and foreign investors to trade the Iranian market index which we tried to address with this fund."

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The TSE 30 is made up mostly of petrochemical companies, oil refiners, a few mobile companies, steel companies and a few large Iranian financial firms. (Learn more about what an ETF is here.)

The Tehran Stock Exchange is down 7.5 percent in the last month and down 14 percent in the past six months.

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Turquoise is quick to point out that only investors in countries that have not imposed sanctions on Iran can participate in the fund, which rules out most Europeans and all Americans. The ETF, for now at least, is geared largely toward Iranians and Middle Eastern investors who can do business in Iran legally.