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Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, and JS Group, Pakistan’s premier financial group, today announced the launch of the Dow Jones-JS Pakistan Islamic Index. The index measures the performance of companies in the Pakistani stock market that pass screens for compliance with Islamic principles.
The Dow Jones-JS Pakistan Islamic Index is designed to serve as an underlying index for investment products such as mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other investable products. This is the first time that a dedicated Islamic Index for Pakistan has been launched by a major global index provider.
“Since the late 1990s, Dow Jones Indexes has been committed to bringing Islamic indexes to countries where investors seek Shari’ah compliant investment opportunities. The launch of the Dow Jones-JS Pakistan Islamic Index shows the continuity of our commitment to our Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes and shows our increasing interest in expanding our Islamic index series to Muslim countries with established stock exchanges” said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes/Ventures.
This launch provides investors with the opportunity of gaining exposure to an investable and Shari'ah compliant index for an emerging market economy that has seen phenomenal growth in recent years. The index follows the superior methodology of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes in its calculation methodology.
“Pakistan, at this point in time, is perhaps one of the most attractive emerging markets across the globe. The Dow Jones-JS Pakistan Islamic Index will provide an exciting opportunity for Shari’ah compliant investors globally to benefit from the phenomenal growth that the Pakistani markets have been experiencing for the last two years” said Munaf Ibrahim, CEO JS & Co Ltd.
The components of the index are weighted by free-float market capitalization, subject to a 10% cap on the weight of any individual security. The index will be reviewed quarterly in March, June, September and December. Historical index values are available daily back to June 30, 2004. The base value of the index is set at 10,000 as of that date.
Excluded from the Islamic Index series are stocks of companies that operate in alcohol, tobacco, pork-related products, financial services, defense/weapons, and entertainment. Also excluded are companies that fail any of three financial ratios: total debt divided by trailing 12-month average market capitalization that is greater than or equal to 33%; cash plus interest-bearing securities divided by trailing 12-month average market capitalization that is greater than or equal to 33%; and accounts receivables divided by total assets that is greater than or equal to 33%.
Further information about the Dow Jones-JS Pakistan Islamic Index is available at www.djindexes.com.
