S&P Adds Islamic Law-Compliant Index

Standard & Poor’s is adding to its index offerings aimed at Islamic investors who want to participate in the markets in a way that conforms to Shariah law. The S&P BRIC Shariah Index will include large companies from the BRIC countries–Brazil, Russia, India, and China–that “trade on developed market exchanges,” including the NYSE, Nasdaq, London Stock Exchange, and Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and are Shariah-law compliant, according to an S&P announcement.

S&P had already launched versions of some of its other indexes that are screened for Shariah-law acceptability, including the S&P GCC Middle East Shariah Index Series, S&P 500, S&P Japan 500, and the S&P Europe 350.