The FTSE SGX Asia Shariah 100 Index is made up of 100 Shariah-compliant stocks, from Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong. The Index will be used as a basis for the creation of financial products such as Exchange-Traded Funds and Over-the-counter trading instruments.
The FTSE SGX Asia Shariah 100 Index, is the first of a series of FTSE SGX Shariah Indices to be launched. The Indices are designed to reflect the stock performance of companies in Asia Pacific whose business activities comply with Islamic Shariah law. Growing interest in Islamic investment vehicles in this region has created a renewed demand for Shariah-screened indices covering a range of asset classes, and this series offers a new and innovative approach to Islamic indexing.
Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, CEO of SGX said, "Introducing Shariah-compliant indices to our marketplace adds diversity to SGX's product offering and is a significant stride to the development of Islamic finance and investment in Singapore. This new index is in response to the investment needs of our global customers and is crucial in developing SGX as a one-stop investment gateway in the Asian time-zone."
Mr Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive of FTSE said, "This tripartite project is a positive step forward into a rapidly growing investment market. There is a worldwide appetite for Islamic financial products and we are meeting this by combining three sets of market leading expertise. FTSE SGX Asia Shariah 100 Index is an innovative new product for FTSE's portfolio and we remain committed to providing solutions for investors globally."
Mr Majid Dawood, CEO of Yasaar LLC and President of Yasaar Research Inc, said, "The launch of the FTSE SGX Shariah 100 Index on the SGX today marks a milestone on the Islamic Finance commitment of Singapore and further enhances the broad range of conventional products that are already available. The initiative taken here will set standards to further bring world class Shariah compliant products to the market, not just here in Singapore but in the entire East Asian region and considerably draw the attention of the Middle Eastern investors to the opportunities."
