Qatar Holding, the investment arm of Qatar Investment Authority, has become the sole owner of Qatar Exchange following the acquisition of NYSE Euronext’s 12 per cent stake in the bourse.

The exchange, which was upgraded by MSCI to emerging markets status in June, said it will continue to cooperate with NYSE Euronext to improve its technology systems. The two parties formed a strategic partnership in 2009, which led to Qatar’s adoption of a universal trading platform the following year.

Qatar is looking to deepen its capital markets by introducing new regulation related to liquidity provision, as well as including Treasury bills and government bonds on its trading platform. It is also launching a second market dedicated to SME’s, although for the moment it is unclear which companies will be listing on it.

However, as liquidity remains tight on the stock market, more initial public offerings (IPOs) will need to be launched and foreign ownership limits will need to be raised to attract higher trading volumes. A planned listing of Doha Global Investment Company, a new QR45bn ($12.4bn) investment firm, was postponed in May.