Two new fixed-income investment funds have been launched by iShares, it has been announced.

Managed by Barclays Global Investors, the firm is now offering an additional choice of exchange traded funds (ETFs), which it claims will allow people looking to invest a chance to increase their exposure to new markets.

The two funds are the iShares Global Inflation-Linked Bond which provides investors with exposure to the Barclays World Government Inflation-Linked Bond Index and the iShares € Covered Bond which focuses on the European bond market.

Alex Claringbull, iShares senior fixed income portfolio manger, said: These new funds are ideally suited to today's economic climate as investors return to safety in the face of volatile market conditions - and they offer this safety in the transparent, liquid and diversified structure of an ETF.

Yesterday, Ian Henderson, portfolio manager of the JP Morgan Natural Resources Fund, claimed that long-term demand from emerging markets will mean that commodities remain a good investment for some time to come.