The Dubai Financial Market Sharia Index, which launched on 28 October, comprises 30 of the 40 companies listed based in the UAE, with the other 10 dual-listed.
The DFM said in a statement that it is the first of its kind in the UAE, aimed at attracting more Islamic investments, and is seen as a step forward by providing market participants with a benchmark to measure the performance of Sharia-compliant listed securities and to take their investment decisions accordingly.
It is accessible through DFM’s website, mobile phone applications as well as any other data dissemination platforms run by the DFM or by licensed market data providers. The initial market capitalisation of the Sharia Index has been set as per stock prices on December 31, 2009, with 1,000 points as the base point of the Index.
Essa Kazim, chairman of DFM said: “The Index enables Sharia-compliant investors and international institutions a trajectory of the historical and current performance of DFM’s Sharia-compliant shares compared to other Islamic or conventional indices at the local, regional and international levels.
“We believe that the DFM Sharia Index is a strong push to our efforts to further attract Islamic investments, considering the growing demand from investors across the world for ethical investments that focus on companies adhering to the Islamic Sharia or to any other general values related to sustainability and environment protection.”
Shares in line with Sharia compliant list
Shares included in the DFM Sharia Index are designated in line with the quarterly updated list of Sharia-compliant companies prepared by the DFM Fatwa and Sharia Supervisory Board, which revises the list based on the quarterly financial results of listed companies.
The Fatwa and Sharia Supervisory Board implements the revision in line with DFM’s standard for issuing, acquiring and trading of shares issued in 2008 and its amendments issued in 2018.
