Total equity market capitalization of 28 Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries stood at $1,860 billion with a total of 6,655 companies listed, a new report by the Islamic International Rating Agency, Bahrain and Dinar Standard, USA said on Tuesday. The “Pulse of the OIC Islamic Capital Markets” report, which covers the three key representative sectors, namely stock markets, Sukuk (Islamic bonds) and Islamic funds market. OIC's total equity market capitalization, according to the report, is even “less than the Shanghai Stock Exchange whose market capitalization stood at $2,196 billion with only 879 companies listed.” The largest market among OIC member countries by market capitalization is Saudi Tadawul ($327 billion). In terms of number of listings, it is Bursa Malaysia Berhad with 967 companies. The fastest growing in terms of market capitalization from Jan. 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010 was Dhaka Stock Exchange, the report said. As far as Sukuk market is concerned, after reaching a peak of 2007, the industry suffered a dramatic decrease in 2008 hit hard by global financial crisis and questions on Shariah compliance. Default by some of the Sukuk issuers has not helped the situation either. Nonetheless in 2009, the situation seemed to have improved a bit with total issuances of $23 billion up from $19 billion in 2008. As of June 2010, there were a total of 1582 global Sukuk issue outstanding with a total value of $137 billion. However, 88 percent of the Sukuk are not listed and except for Malaysia, most of the Sucks are unrated compared to conventional bonds, where it is norm to obtain ratings. The absence of ratings has also limited the growth of Sukuk markets particularly among the mid market players. In terms of Islamic Funds market, as of June 2010, there were 504 Islamic mutual funds globally with total assets under management of $31 billion. Comparing it to the global funds sector, which stood at $22.8 trillion in total assets under management, Islamic Funds are still at a very early stage. However, given that the OIC markets are now roughly 11 percent of the global economy, there is a significant room for growth in this sector. In terms of asset class, 45 percent are equity funds while 32 percent are money market funds. Among the key challenges to this sector is the size of Islamic funds as 80 percent of them are less than $50 million. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index gained 0.57 percent to close on Tuesday at 6,106.42, trimming the monthly loss to 2.8 percent. However, Dubai's DFM General Index slipped 0.5 percent to 1,483.67, the lowest since Aug. 18, at the 2 p.m. close in Dubai. The measure declined 1.9 percent this month. The Bahrain All Share Index fell 0.3 percent while Kuwait's gauge gained 0.3 percent. Oman's benchmark stock index dropped 0.1 percent and Qatar's QE Index rose 0.1 percent. Abu Dhabi's ADX General Index was little changed.
