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Dow Jones Indexes And Dubai Financial Market To Launch Shari’ah-Compliant Islamic Index For Dubai

Date 02/04/2007

Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and the Dubai Financial Market, UAE’s premier stock exchange, today announced the launch of the Dow Jones DFM Index and Dow Jones DFM Titans 10 Index. The new indexes are part of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index series, and follow the methodology of the Shari’ah compliant index family.

The Dow Jones DFM Index is a composite equity index that tracks the performance of equities traded at Dubai Financial Market. The Dow Jones DFM Titans 10 Index is a subset of the Dow Jones DFM Index and is designed to serve as an underlying index for investment products such as mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other investable products that enable Shari’ah compliant investors to participate in the performance of the Dubai Islamic stock exchange.

Commenting on the partnership, Essa Kazim, Chairman, Dubai Financial Market, said: “With Dubai Financial Market being the first Islamic stock exchange, it is appropriate that we should co-brand our first Islamic index with Dow Jones Indexes, the creators of the world’s first Islamic index. As the DFM evolves alongside the financial transformation taking place in the UAE, it is imperative to introduce products that have global appeal.”

“Our stated mission is to create a fair, efficient, liquid and transparent marketplace in order to serve all stakeholders and to contribute to the economic growth of the UAE and the region,” added Kazim.

"The Dow Jones DFM Index and Dow Jones DFM Titans 10 Index were developed in cooperation with Dubai Financial Market to meet the growing demand for Shari’ah compliant equity indexes, and are based on internationally acknowledged Islamic finance standards,” said Michael A. Petronella, president Dow Jones Indexes/Reprints. “The launch of the two new indexes mark another major step in our effort to expand our Islamic indexes to include an increasing number of Muslim countries.”

The Dow Jones DFM Index measures the performance of stocks trading on the Dubai Financial Market that pass rules-based screens for Shari’ah compliance. The top four companies in the Dow Jones DFM Index are Emaar Properties, Agility, National Industries Group Holdings and DU.

The Dow Jones DFM Titans 10 is a subset of the Dow Jones DFM Index and measures the performance of the 10 largest companies listed on the Dubai Financial Market. The universe of stocks consists of all eligible securities listed on the Dubai Financial Market. The stock selection process follows the transparent and objective methodology of the Dow Jones Country Titans series.

Both indexes, which are calculated in U.S. dollars and United Arab Emirates Dirhams (AED), are weighted by free-float market capitalization and are reviewed quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Further information about the index is available at www.djindexes.com.