The First Islamic Bourse

The Financial Times reports that Dubai has created the world’s first Islamic bourse:

The more established Dubai Financial Market (DFM) said this week it was restructuring itself to comply with Islamic financial principals. The move comes days before it launches a $435m (€340m, £230m) initial public offering.
Many investors in Dubai believe the conversion is primarily a marketing exercise. Islamic principals only exclude companies whose main business is pork, alcohol, arms, tobacco or interest, and state-owned DFM has never fallen into these categories. Furthermore, DFM will continue to list conventional banks after its conversion, with fees from banking stocks paid into a separate pool.
The chief motive, analysts say, is that the main Dubai share index has fallen from a peak of 1,267 points a year ago to 379 points yesterday.

Sounds like they’re playing to their base.

Posted by on November 10th, 2006 at 6:34 am


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