S&P Adds Three Shariah Compliant Indexes

According to an S&P press release, the S&P/Citigroup Global Property Shariah Index represents and measures the investable universe of publicly traded property companies from developed and emerging markets. It has 130 companies from 26 countries with an adjusted market cap of $231 billion. Significant countries represented include the United States (19.54%), Australia (19.19%), China (11.14%), Hong Kong (10.53%) and Japan (9.80%).

The S&P/Citigroup World Property Shariah Index is a subset of the S&P/Citigroup Global Property Shariah Index and includes property companies from the developed markets only. It has 89 companies from 16 countries with an adjusted market cap of $191 billion. Significant countries represented include the United States (23.63%), Australia (23.21%), Hong Kong (12.74%), Japan (11.85%) and France (10.59%).

The S&P Pan Arab Shariah Index includes 129 stocks from listed companies in 11 countries – Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia (48.24%) and Kuwait (20.07%) are the two biggest country constituents, while financials (35.92%), materials (26.67%) and telecom services (19.24%) are the biggest sector constituents.

Each Shariah-compliant index uses explicit selection criteria defined by Islamic law, the press release said. All S&P Shariah Indices are screened by Ratings Intelligence Partners, a Kuwait-based consulting company specializing in the Islamic investment market. Ratings Intelligence Partners researchers interface directly with a dedicated Shariah Supervisory Board.

The S&P Global Shariah Index Series, introduced in April, so far includes Shariah-compliant versions of the S&P 500, the S&P Europe 350 and the S&P Japan 500, as well as the S&P GCC Middle East Shariah Index Series, the S&P BRIC Shariah Index S&P, and the Pan Asia Shariah Index.

More information can be found at www.globalindices.standardandpoors.com.