WORLD - CAPITAL MARKETS - Sharia investing leans to West

gulfnews.com - Islamic benchmarks have consistently outperformed conventional ones

To some observers of Islamic equity investing, Islamic or Sharia-compliant equity indexes seem to imply investing in publicly-listed companies in Muslim countries.

The end results contradict the assumptions. This also rebuts allegations by many from the anti-Sharia movement that Islamic investing is about investing in companies linked to terrorism or financing terrorism. The largest companies in the S&P Global BMI Sharia include ExxonMobil, IBM, Chevron, Nestle and Microsoft.

Today, there is a large stock count and market capitalisation weighting bias towards the non-Muslim G20 countries in all global Islamic equity indexes. We will look at country exposure of Sharia-compliant companies, the economic sector exposure and selected Muslim country Islamic indexes, and how to increase number of Sharia-compliant companies. (source)

FINANCIAL MARKETS - BSE, ISE Islamic equity indexes to open floodgates to a spate of offerings

By MUSHTAK PARKER | ARAB NEWS

Published: Jan 9, 2011 23:16 Updated: Jan 9, 2011 23:31 

The launch over the last few weeks by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) of their debut equity indexes which comply with non-interest based Islamic investment principles is potentially a major development for the Islamic capital market and asset management industry.

FINANCIAL MARKETS - İMKB launches new index to attract Middle Eastern capital

İMKB’s chairman Hüseyin Erkan (r) with Bizim Securities chairman Bekir Boydak during the ceremony to launch the Participation Index.

FINANCIAL MARKETS - Istanbul bourse launches participation index

In an effort to tap the growing area of Islamic banking, the Istanbul Stock Exchange launches a participation index in a ceremony. The index, comprised of 30 companies, includes giants such as Türk Telekom, BİM, Enka İnşaat, Ford Otosan and Petkim. Hüseyin Erkan, chairman of the bourse, says the exchange may also establish separate indexes for groups such as holding companies.

Top executives of Islamic lenders and the Istanbul Stock Exchange sign the protocol on the creation of a participation index at the Istanbul Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The Istanbul Stock Exchange, or ISE, launched a participation index, made up of equities that adhere to the principles of Islamic lending, at a ceremony Thursday.

The main reason for the creation of the participation index is to offer a special Islamic and domestic index “suited to the customer profile of participation banks,” according to exchange officials who spoke at the ceremony.

Pointing to the rapid and steady growth of Islamic banking in Turkey since 2004, Fahrettin Yahşi, chairman of Turkey’s Participation Banks Association, or TKBB, said the participation index will be an important service to provide standardization in the sector. Yahşi is also the general manager of Albaraka Türk, majority-owned by the Albaraka Banking Group.

FINANCIAL MARKETS - KATLM "Participation Index" for the IMKB/ISE Istanbul Stock Exchange

 As from Jan 6, 2011 a new "Participation  Index" (KATLM) will be listed on the IMKB/ISE Istanbul Stock Exchange, sponsored by the 4 Turkish Participation Banks (Albaraka Turk, Bank Asya, Kuveyt Turk and Turkiye Finans) and advised by BMD Bizim Menkul Degerler.

There is an industry screening and financial screening (max 30 % interest bearing debt - max 30 % cash and interest bearing receivables - max 5 % non permissible income model) that is further narrowed down to the 30 biggest companies listed (details HERE).

Unfortunately, the index apparently only targets the interests of Turkish investors, since the website uniquely caters for a Turkish speaking audience.

To give you an idea of the initial industry spread, see hereunder: