Dow Jones Islamic Market Index family expands its universe with eleven new countries

This will increase the total number of countries in the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index universe to 68 from 57.

Also effective immediately, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia will be added to the Dow Jones Islamic Market MENA Index, which currently measures the performance of Shari'ah compliant stocks traded in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

"The inclusion of these 11 thriving and competitive developing countries in the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index universe is a reaction to market demand but also reflects the growing importance of these countries for Islamic investors,"

said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes.

"We are determined to provide our clients with the most comprehensive benchmarks of companies that comply with Islamic investing principles. Dow Jones Indexes has been the leading provider of Shari'ah compliant indexes for a decade, and will continue to provide market participants with sophisticated, accurate and broad Islamic benchmarks."

Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes seek to measure the global universe of investable equities that pass screens for Shari'ah compliance. The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes combine Islamic investment principles with Dow Jones Indexes' objective, transparent and rules-based methodology.

The index family includes more than 100 regional, country and industry indexes derived from the flagship Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index. In 2006, the index family was expanded to include the Dow Jones Islamic Market Sustainability Index, which combines Islamic investing principles with sustainability criteria; and Dow Jones Citigroup Sukuk Index, the first index to track Islamic bonds. Islamic indexes for the ASEAN and GCC regions, Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks and Malaysian blue-chips were launched last year.

There are currently more than 150 licensees with more than $7bn in assets benchmarked to the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes.