Saudi Arabia's first exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the Hong Kong equity market debuted Wednesday on the Saudi Stock Exchange.

With an initial size of over 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, the ETF, the Albilad CSOP MSCI Hong Kong China Equity ETF, became the largest ETF in the Middle East upon its listing.

The index fund allows Saudi investors to directly trade Hong Kong stocks across such sectors as consumer goods, healthcare, and technology.

The listing of the ETF provides a convenient investment channel for investors from the Middle East to access markets of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, promoting the two-way flow of capital between the two sides, and strengthening the connections in their capital markets, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Paul Chan said.

In November last year, Asia's first ETF tracking shares listed in Saudi Arabia debuted in Hong Kong.