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Islamic investing

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  • Walkshäusl, Christian
  • Lobe, Sebastian

Abstract

Using a large international sample of 35 developed and emerging markets, we analyze whether Islamic indices exhibit a different performance to conventional benchmarks. While there is no compelling evidence of performance differences in robust Sharpe ratio tests and after controlling for market risk, we find a significantly positive four-factor alpha for the aggregate developed markets region. This outperformance stems, however, mainly from the U.S. and is largely attributable to the exclusion of financial stocks in Sharia-screened portfolios. As the extensive downturn of financials is related to the recent financial crisis, we do not argue that this outperformance will continue over time. The style analysis reveals that Islamic indices invest mainly in growth stocks and positive momentum stocks. This, for a passive portfolio intriguing result can, however, be explained by the strong sector allocation towards energy firms and their strong momentum characteristic during the sample period.

Suggested Citation

  • Walkshäusl, Christian & Lobe, Sebastian, 2012. "Islamic investing," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 53-62.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:revfin:v:21:y:2012:i:2:p:53-62
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rfe.2012.03.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Albert Spalding & Eun-Jung Kim, 2015. "Should Western Corporations Ban the Use of Shari’a Arbitration Clauses in their Commercial Contracts?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 613-626, December.
    2. El Mehdi, Imen Khanchel & Mghaieth, Asma, 2017. "Volatility spillover and hedging strategies between Islamic and conventional stocks in the presence of asymmetry and long memory," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 595-611.
    3. Naveed Raza & Ahmad Ibn Ibrahimy & Azwadi Ali & Sajid Ali, 2016. "Gold and Islamic stocks: A hedge and safe haven comparison in time frequency domain for BRICS markets," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 50(6), pages 305-318, Special I.
    4. Erragragui, Elias & Revelli, Christophe, 2016. "Is it costly to be both shariah compliant and socially responsible?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 64-74.
    5. Ashraf, Dawood & Felixson, Karl & Khawaja, Mohsin & Hussain, Syed Mujahid, 2017. "Do constraints on financial and operating leverage affect the performance of Islamic equity portfolios?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 171-182.
    6. Mohammad, Nazeeruddin & Ashraf, Dawood, 2015. "The market timing ability and return performance of Islamic equities: An empirical study," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 169-183.
    7. Abdelbari El Khamlichi & Thi Hong Van Hoang & Wing‐keung Wong, 2016. "Is Gold Different for Islamic and Conventional Portfolios? A Sectorial Analysis," Post-Print hal-02964594, HAL.
    8. Dawood Ashraf, 2016. "Does Shari’ah Screening Cause Abnormal Returns? Empirical Evidence from Islamic Equity Indices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 209-228, March.
    9. Hosen, Mosharrof & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Are Islamic risk factors blessings or curse for stock return? evidence from Malaysia based on dynamic GMM and quantile regression approaches," MPRA Paper 79738, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Erragraguy, Elias & Revelli, Christophe, 2015. "Should Islamic investors consider SRI criteria in their investment strategies?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 11-19.
    11. Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Mensi, Walid & Reboredo, Juan Carlos & Nguyen, Duc Khuong, 2014. "Dynamic dependence of the global Islamic equity index with global conventional equity market indices and risk factors," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 189-206.
    12. Elias, Erragragui, 2017. "Is it Costly to Introduce SRI into Islamic Portfolios?," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 25, pages 23-54.
    13. Ali, Mohsin & Azmi, Wajahat, 2016. "Religion in the boardroom and its impact on Islamic banks' performance," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 83-88.
    14. Raza, Naveed & Ibrahimy, Ahmad & Ali, Azwadi, 2015. "Gold and Islamic Stocks: A Hedge and Safe Haven Comparison in Time - Grequency domain for BRICS," MPRA Paper 69366, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Islamic finance; Sharia-compliant investments; Asset pricing; Performance evaluation; International markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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