This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 26, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has released an updated list of syariah-compliant securities approved by its Shariah Advisory Council (SAC).

In a statement, the SC said that the updated list, which takes effect today, features a total of 676 syariah-compliant securities which constitute 75% of the 901 listed securities on Bursa Malaysia.

The list includes 23 newly classified syariah-compliant securities and excludes 13 from the previous list issued in November 2016.

The 23 new syariah-compliant securities are Aemulus Holdings Bhd, Amtel Holdings Bhd, Ann Joo Resources Bhd, Asia Media Group Bhd, Cabnet Holdings Bhd, Can-One Bhd, Daiman Development Bhd, Eversafe Rubber Bhd, FoundPac Group Bhd, GFM Services Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, HLT Global Bhd, Imaspro Corp Bhd, Leweko Resources Bhd, MUI Properties Bhd, Pan Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, Seal Incorporated Bhd, Stone Master Corp Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd, Vsolar Group Bhd and Yinson Holdings Bhd.

Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd was also part of the list as the stock had been classified as syariah-compliant at its initial public offering stage. Serba Dinamik was listed in February this year.

The 13 securities which were excluded from the syariah-compliant list were APB Resources Bhd, GD Express Carrier Bhd, Golden Land Bhd, Jerasia Capital Bhd, Kim Teck Cheong Consolidated Bhd, Lion Diversified Holdings Bhd, NetX Holdings Bhd, PA Resources Bhd, PLB Engineering Bhd, Plenitude Bhd, Prolexus Bhd, Rexit Bhd and YFG Bhd.

The SAC adopts a two-tier quantitative approach, which applies the business activity benchmarks and the financial ratio benchmarks, in determining the syariah status of the listed securities.

Hence, the securities will be classified as syariah-compliant if their business activities and financial ratios are within these benchmarks.

The syariah-compliant list is updated twice a year, in May and in November.