Thomson Reuters has launched the Islamic Asia Pacific Ex-Japan Islamic Agribusiness Index, covering 30 shari'ah compliant companies in the Asia Pacific region with revenues derived directly from agricultural products. It is the first index of its kind in the Asia Pacific region, the company said.
The Thomson Reuters Islamic Asia Pacific Ex-Japan Agribusiness Index combines Thomson Reuters transparent rules-based methodology with IdealRatings' expertise and research-based approach to shari'ah-compliant screening.
In addition, the index uses Thomson Reuters Business Classification (TRBC) to select companies engaged in upstream agricultural activities. TRBC has five levels of classification enabling a more accurate and granular selection of companies. This allows Thomson Reuters to systematically include industries and business activities which derive revenue from agricultural produce such as dairy producers or fertiliser while excluding activities related to agricultural product manufacturing which are not considered to be part of the agribusiness sector.
Thomson Reuters has supported Islamic finance for over 30 years, offering shari'ah compliant investment and trading solutions for financial professionals. Said Stephan Flagel, Head of Indices at Thomson Reuters: “The index provides rules-based, liquid and transparent exposure to companies within the fast growing Asian agribusiness sector. Bringing the efficiency and transparency expected in advanced financial markets to the rapidly growing Islamic finance industry requires the provision of deep and reliable market indicators, benchmarks and terms and conditions.”
The index will be tracked by an exchange-traded fund (ETF) provided by i-VCAP Management which was launched on the same day and is named MyETF Thomson Reuters Asia Pacific ex-Japan Islamic Agribusiness. The newly-launched ETF will offer investors exposure to the performance of the index and is the first agricultural-related Islamic ETF available globally and the first Islamic sector ETF available in the region, adding to ETFs worth US$2 billion based on Thomson Reuters indices globally.
The Thomson Reuters Islamic Asia Pacific Ex-Japan Agribusiness Index is calculated in real time and will be available through Thomson Reuters Eikon.