Standard & Poor’s has announced the launch of its S&P Pan Asia Shariah Index, the latest addition to the S&P Global Shariah Index series.

The new index, which draws stocks from nine Asian markets in the S&P Citigroup Global Equity Index, will enable Islamic investors to benchmark their investment on a regional basis. It will give product providers the opportunity to develop structured products tailored to the Islamic market.

The countries eligible for inclusion are China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Australia, Japan and New Zealand are excluded.

The number of stocks, for Shariah screening purposes, is limited to the top 15 from each country that have a market capitalisation of at least $1 billion. Each month a universe of stocks conforming to these criteria, selected once a year on 31 March, is screened for Shariah compliance to form this index.

The S&P Pan Asia Shariah Index has been launched with 71 companies with an adjusted market capitalisation of US$810.83 billion. Information technology companies represent approximately 35 per cent of the index, followed by telecom services (17 per cent) and energy (15 per cent).