Stock markets declined considerably over the course of 2011. However, The Telegraph has listed a new exchange market that has performed well over the past year and may provide a number of new opportunities in 2012 as well: The Qatar Exchange Market.

The Qatar Exchange rose by a little over 1% in 2011. At first glance, this sounds like a poorly performing financial market for investors. However, investors must consider that most major stock markets lost money. In fact, the indexes of some developed countries fell by nearly 30%, such as the Italian MIB. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the only major index to post a return last year.

Even the indexes of second world countries such as China suffered considerably. The potential of a recession in China raised a number of concerns for the rest of the world, as China was expected to provide bailout opportunities for a number of countries suffering from the major debt crisis.

Therefore, many investors are starting to consider the potential returns offered by the Qatar and other frontier indexes. The founder of the alliance of developing countries known as “BRIC” has admitted that the most prosperous days of the alliance are likely to have passed. Meanwhile, emerging markets in the Qatar and other emerging countries are likely to pose much greater opportunities for investors.

According to Telegraph reporter Emma Wall, investors such as Mark Mobius of Templeton are likely to consider these frontier indexes as the new Brics of the financial world. Is it possible that indexes such as the Qatar will play an instrumental role in driving global growth in the coming years? Mobius believes that this may very well be the case.

While the potential returns of frontier markets may be appealing to investors with high growth needs, they shouldn’t blind themselves to the potential risks these markets pose. The economic futures of developing nations is far from certain. Also, businesses in those indexes do not have as much experience competing in the global economy. Finally, they are more subject to political instability.

Despite the many challenges they face, Mobius argues that frontier markets are growing extremely quickly and pose many opportunities for investors. As the manager of Templeton’s frontier markets fund, Mobius has been able to achieve returns of almost 30% since 2008. The countries that Mobius places the most emphasis on are Argentina, Romania, Vietnam and Nigeria. One of the reasons why Mobius prefers these frontier markets is that they have not factored in growth projections like developed and emerging markets. Therefore, investors are able to take advantage of the opportunity to grow their money faster than the market expects.