Performance of global Islamic versus conventional share indices: International evidence

This paper provides empirical evidence on risk-adjusted performance comparisons of share indices from Islamic and conventional markets. To ensure valid comparisons, the selected Islamic indices are matched with conventional indices. The Treasury-bill rate and the MSCI All-World index are used as risk-free rate and world benchmark, respectively. Monthly returns are analyzed and four sub-periods are examined as crisis and non-crisis periods. Findings reveal that Islamic indices outperformed their conventional counterparts during crisis periods but results are inconclusive for the non-crisis periods. This could be due to the conservative nature of Shari'ah-compliant investments offering investors superior investment alternative during crisis. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.