Managerial Finance

Investigation of performance of Malaysian Islamic unit trust funds: Comparison with

conventional unit trust funds
Fikriyah Abdullah Taufiq Hassan Shamsher Mohamad

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

Article information:
To cite this document:
Fikriyah Abdullah Taufiq Hassan Shamsher Mohamad, (2007),"Investigation of performance of Malaysian
Islamic unit trust funds", Managerial Finance, Vol. 33 Iss 2 pp. 142 - 153
Permanent link to this document:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03074350710715854
Downloaded on: 07 October 2016, At: 19:51 (PT)
References: this document contains references to 17 other documents.
To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 11085 times since 2007*

Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:

(2007),"Malaysian unit trust funds performance during up and down market conditions: A
comparison of market benchmark", Managerial Finance, Vol. 33 Iss 2 pp. 154-166 http://
dx.doi.org/10.1108/03074350710715863
(2003),"Performance of Islamic and mainstream banks in Malaysia", International Journal of Social
Economics, Vol. 30 Iss 12 pp. 1249-1265 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03068290310500652

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:434496 []

For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for
Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines
are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.

About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com

Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company
manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as
providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.
Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee
on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive
preservation.
*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0307-4358.htm

MF
33,2

Investigation of performance
of Malaysian Islamic
unit trust funds

142

Comparison with conventional unit

trust funds
Fikriyah Abdullah

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

School of Finance and Accounting, Universiti Utara Malaysia,

Kedah, Malaysia

Taufiq Hassan
Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Economics and
Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia, and

Shamsher Mohamad
Faculty of Economics and Management, Graduate School of Management,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose One of the implications of Islamic investment principles is the availability of Islamic
financial instruments in the financial market. The main aim of this research is to observe the
differences in terms of performance between Islamic and conventional mutual fund in the context of
Malaysian capital market.
Design/methodology/approach To achieve the major objectives of this paper standard methods
wereused for evaluating the mutual funds performance, for example, Sharpe index and adjusted
Sharpe index, Jensen Alpha, Timing and selectivity ability. The scope of the paper is to measure the
relative quantitative performance of funds which was managed based on two different approaches.
Findings The basic finding of the paper is that Islamic funds performed better than the
conventional funds during bearish economic trends while, conventional funds showed better
performance than Islamic funds during bullish economic conditions. In addition to that finding, both
conventional and Islamic funds were unable to achieve at least 50 per cent market diversification
levels, though conventional funds are found to have a marginally better diversification level than the
Islamic funds. The results also suggest that fund managers are unable to correctly identify good
bargain stocks and to forecast the price movements of the general market.
Research limitations/implications The main limitation is that the samples of conventional and
Islamic mutual funds were from one developing market. The findings could be better validated if the
sample included the mutual funds from other developed and developing economies, where both
Islamic and conventional funds are available.
Practical implications The findings suggest that having Islamic mutual funds in an investment
portfolio helps to hedge the downside risk in an adverse economic situation.
Originality/value So far there is no published evidence on the relative performance of Islamic and
conventional mutual funds in Malaysia as well as other developing countries. Therefore, this paper
adds new knowledge to the mutual funds literature.
Keywords Performance management, Financial risk, Islam, Fund management, Unit trusts
Paper type Research paper
Managerial Finance
Vol. 33 No. 2, 2007
pp. 142-153
# Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0307-4358
DOI 10.1108/03074350710715854

Introduction
Mutual fund or better known as unit trust fund in Malaysia is an investment vehicle
created by asset management companies specializing in pooling savings from both retail
and institutional investors. Individual investors seeking liquidity, portfolio diversification

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

and investment expertise are increasingly choosing unit trust funds as their investment
vehicle. However, these investors do differ in their preferences based on their risk
threshold, liquidity needs and their needs to comply with religious requirement.
Over the past decades, Malaysian capital market has been growing at a very fast pace
and this has been supportive of the various complex needs of the country. In view of the
fact that capital market is functioning based on interest, it is therefore not surprising that
the operation of capital market does not conform to the Shariah principles (Islamic law
as revealed in the Quran and Sunnah). Hence, it is difficult for Muslim investors
representing more than 50 per cent of the total population, to participate freely in the
Malaysian capital market. The increasing demand for alternative investment vehicles,
which conform to the Shariah principle has prompted the Malaysian government to
introduce various measures with the aim of boosting the Islamic capital market (ICM).
For examples, among other measures, an Islamic bank was established in 1980 and the
Kuala Lumpur Shariah Index was introduced in 1999 with the objective of fulfilling the
investment needs of Muslim investors. Based on the Shariah principle, transactions
taking place in the capital market should be free from prohibited activities or elements
such as usury (riba), gambling (maisir) and ambiguity (gharar). Islamic investing can be
defined as investment in financial services and other investment products, which adhere
to the principles established by the Shariah[1]. These principles require that:
(1) Investment must be made in ethical sectors. In other words, profits cannot be
generated from prohibited activities such as alcohol production, gambling,
pornography etc. In addition, investing in interest (riba)-based financial
institutions are not allowed.
(2) All wealth creation should result from a partnership between an investor and
the user of capital in which rewards and risks are shared. Returns in invested
capital should be earned rather than be pre-determined.
One of the implications of Islamic investment principles is in the availability of Islamic
financial instruments in the financial market. The Shariahs prohibition against riba
(interest) and some Fiqhi (Islamic Jurisprudence) issues in the interpretation of gharar
(excessive risk) suggests that many of the instrument products, which are available to
conventional funds are not available to Islamic funds. In the case of financial services,
for instance Islamic banking, it is not much of a hassle for a conventional bank to open
up Islamic banking window as an Islamic investment arm. However, in the case of
Islamic investment instruments for example, Islamic unit trust funds, fund managers
do have some limitations in selecting stocks to form part of their portfolio. Even
though most of the banks listed in Bursa Malaysia have Islamic banking arms, due to
the Shariah guidelines, fund managers are unable to include banking stocks in their
portfolio. Furthermore, due to the absence of Islamic money market, Islamic unit trust
funds depend solely on the equity market for investment. For conventional equity unit
trust funds, fund managers do not invest solely in the equity market. Rather, a fraction
of their investment goes to the money market, which comprises of risk free
investments. Table I presents the investment proportions of conventional equity funds
in Malaysia over the seven-year period, from 1995-2001.
Before the outbreak of the financial crisis in 1997, the Malaysian economy had
registered high growth for a decade, averaging at 8.5 per cent per annum. Due to high
GDP growth rate and inflows of foreign capital, cyclical sectors such as banking sector,
property and entertainment sectors had recorded high performance in the stock
market[2]. Unlike Islamic unit trust funds, conventional funds do not have any

Malaysian
Islamic unit
trust funds
143

MF
33,2

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

144

restrictions to incorporate these high performing stocks into their portfolio during
good economic conditions. Similarly, during financial crisis in 1997, stocks in the
cyclical sectors recorded the worst performance and consequently, this was reflected in
the poor performance of conventional unit trust funds. However, given that Islamic
funds have limited investment choices, their performances were, therefore, not
subjected to the cyclical effects of the economy.
While conventional funds are subjected to the capital market laws, Islamic funds are
subjected not only to the capital market laws but also to the Quranic law of economics.
Based on this strategic difference, the purpose of this paper is to provide an
understanding on the performances of these two diverse unit trust funds in the
Malaysian capital market, namely conventional and Islamic funds. Islamic funds are
relatively new as compared to the conventional funds. In the Malaysian context, so far,
there is no published evidence on the comparison of performance between Islamic
funds and conventional funds. This study intends to fill the gap in the literature by
providing further empirical evidence on the Malaysian unit trust funds. The rest of the
paper unfolds as follows: Review of previous studies provides a brief review of the
relevant literature. Data and methodology outlines the methodology and the measures
of performance used. Results and discussion discusses the findings from the empirical
analysis and Results and discussion provides concluding remarks.
Review of previous studies
The literature on the performance of mutual funds has long standing issues. The issues
addressed by previous studies include the risk-return performance, selection and
market timing abilities of fund managers and the level of diversification of mutual
funds. McDonald (1974) estimates the Sharpe, Treynor and Jensen measures for 123
mutual funds using monthly data for the period between 1960 and 1969. The findings
show that majority of the funds did not perform as well as the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) index.
Kon and Jen (1979) examines the non-stationarity of the market-related risk for
mutual funds over time. They separate their samples into different risk regimes and then
run the standard regression equation for each such regime. Using a sample of 49 mutual
funds and their net monthly returns from January 1960 to December 1971, they find the
existence of multiple levels of beta for 37 funds. This implies that there are a large
number of funds engaging in market timing activities. Kon (1983) extends his analysis to
examine both market timing and selectivity performance. He finds that 14 funds have
positive overall timing performance but none is statistically significant at a reasonable
level. Five out of 23 funds show statistically significant overall selectivity performance.

Table I.
Average investment
among sectors for
conventional funds:
1995-2001

Industrial products (%)

Consumer products (%)
Trading/services (%)
Finance (%)
Property (%)
Construction (%)
Plantation (%)
Others (%)
Total equities (%)

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

9.65
6.53
19.99
16.00
8.15
2.48
10.95
2.04
75.78

12.87
5.72
24.69
14.08
7.16
8.12
5.06
3.69
76.45

13.42
7.23
20.68
15.12
3.51
4.07
15.09
9.99
89.07

8.82
4.61
20.91
11.24
2.81
5.43
5.49
6.06
64.57

10.58
6.13
22.12
12.52
2.74
8.00
4.18
5.49
71.07

4.80
7.97
22.58
46.86
4.05
0.00
9.60
0
95.86

8.9
7.54
22.9
17.44
2.21
6.51
5.65
7.83
78.98

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

In their study, Chen et al. (1992) examine a sample of 93 mutual funds covering a period
from January 1977 through March 1984 by using a quadratic market model in
conjunction with a systematically varying parameter regression method. The results
indicate that fund managers do not possess market timing abilities. Furthermore, they
find a trade-off between market timing and security selection abilities.
Annuar et al. (1997) use the Treynor and Mazuy model to examine the selectivity
and timing performance of 31 unit trust funds in Malaysia for the period of July 1990
through August 1995. On average, the selectivity performance of the funds is positive
and the timing performance is negative. The study finds a positive correlation between
selectivity and timing performances. The results also show that the funds have not
achieved the expected level of diversification and the risk-return characteristics of the
unit trust funds are generally inconsistent with their stated objectives.
Shamsher et al. (2000) conduct a study on the performance of 41 actively and
passively managed funds in Malaysia covering the period from 1995 through 1999. The
performance measures used are the Sharpes index, the Treynors index and the Jensens
index. The findings reveal no significant differences in the performance of actively and
passively managed funds. Moreover, the returns of these funds are lower than the
returns of the market portfolio. The diversification levels of these two funds are less than
50 per cent of the diversification level of the market index as proxied by the
Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI). The selection skills of active fund managers are
no better than that of the passive fund managers. The market timing abilities of
managers are found to be poor for both the actively and passively managed funds.
Data and methodology
This study focuses on equity-based unit trust funds and the sample consists of both
Islamic and conventional funds. The conventional funds are further divided into
governmental and non-governmental funds, which include growth funds, income funds
and balance funds. The sample consists of 65 funds, 14 of which are Islamic funds.
Monthly returns adjusted for dividends and bonuses distributed to unit holders are
computed for the 10-year period starting from January 1992 through December 2001. To
serve as a market benchmark, the returns on the KLCI i.e. the KLCI (formerly known as the
KLSE Composite Index) are used as a proxy for the returns on the market portfolio and
the risk free rate is proxied by the three-month Treasury Bills[3]. In view of the fact that the
Malaysian economic conditions changed dramatically as a result of the financial crisis in
1997, we divide the study period into three different periods to ascertain the impact of the
economic conditions on the performance of unit trust funds. The three different periods
are: pre-(1992-1996), during (1997-1998) and post-(1999-2001) financial crisis.
Measurement of performance
The returns on the unit trust funds are derived from two components namely income
and the capital gain. The rate of returns for each fund is calculated as follows:
Rp

NAVt " NAVt"1 Dt

NAVt"1

where
Rp Total return of a portfolio (individual fund);

NAVt Net Asset Value at time t;

Malaysian
Islamic unit
trust funds
145

MF
33,2

146

NAVt"1 Net Asset Value one period before time t; and

Dt Dividend or cash disbursement at time t.

In this study, we employ three standard methods namely the Treynors Index, the Sharpe
Index and the Jensen Index and Adjusted Jensen Index to evaluate the performance of unit
trust funds. Due to the biasness in the estimation of the standard deviation, the Sharpes
Index has been modified by Jobson and Korkie (1981) to become the Adjusted Sharpe
Index. This study also employs Adjusted Sharpe Index, which is expressed as follows:

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

ASI

SI & no. of observations

no. of observations 0:75

Modigliani and Modigliani (1997) propose an alternative risk adjusted measure which is
easier to understand. The measure expresses a funds performance relative to the market
in percentage terms, which is given as follows:
MM

Rp " Rf
& !m
!t

where
MM Modigliani measure;

Rp ex post adjusted returns on the mutual funds over the measurement period;
Rf risk-free rate of return on corresponding period on a government security;

!t standard deviation of returns of the mutual funds; and

!m standard deviation of market (index) excess return.

An additional performance measure known as Information ratio, is defined as follows:

Information ratio

Fund return " Benchmark return

Standard deviation (fund return " Benchmark return

Measurement of risk, selectivity and timing

The total risk on investments is measured using the standard deviation. Unlike the
standard deviation, which is an absolute measure of variability, the coefficient of variation
is a relative measure of variability. The coefficient of variation (CoV) ratio which
measures the amount of risk assumed per unit of average returns, is expressed as follows:
CoV
where

!i
ERi

!i standard deviation (total risk) of asset i; and

E(Ri) average return of asset i.

The stock selection and market timing performances of each fund are estimated using
the Treynor and Mazuy (1966) model and the equation is as follows:

where

Rp "p #p Rm $Rm 2 %

Rp dividend-adjusted return on portfolio per cent minus the yield on 91-day

Treasury Bills rate;
"p coefficient that indicates estimated selectivity skill;

Malaysian
Islamic unit
trust funds

#p beta risk of unit trust;

Rm observed return on the KLSE Composite Index minus Rf (risk-free rate);

$ coefficient that indicates market-timing skill; and

147

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

% residual excess return on portfolio per cent.

A positive and significant " and $ indicate superior selectivity and market-timing
skills, respectively. Finally, heteroscedasticity and serial correlation problems, which
are common in any regression based model, are corrected by using Whites (1980)
correction test and Newey-Wests (1987) correction test.
Results and discussion
Non risk-adjusted returns of unit trust funds
Table II summarizes the non risk-adjusted returns for both Islamic and conventional
funds, which include governmental and non-governmental funds. Also reported are the
returns of the market portfolio as proxied by the KLCI. During the pre-crisis period,
among the portfolios, KLCI achieves the highest level of average monthly returns.
The average monthly returns for Islamic funds, conventional funds, be they governmental
or non-governmental funds are below the average monthly return of the KLCI. This
suggest that unit trust funds under-perform the market on a non risk-adjusted basis.
During the crisis, the stock market was badly affected by the economic downturn and
this was reflected by a negative average monthly return of "1.98 per cent for the KLCI
which recorded the lowest level of returns among the portfolios. The performances of
Islamic and non-governmental funds appear to be better during the crisis period than
during the pre-crisis period. For conventional and governmental funds, their average
monthly returns during the crisis period are lower than during the pre-crisis period.
The results for the post-crisis period reveal that the market portfolio, KLCI
experiences the highest level of average monthly returns. The average monthly returns
for all of the unit trust funds during the post-crisis period are better than those
recorded during the pre-crisis period.
Over the 10-year period, the average monthly return of the market is 0.81 per cent.
The average monthly returns for Islamic, conventional and non-governmental funds
are 0.72, 0.73 and 0.54 per cent, respectively. This suggests that most of the funds,
under-perform the KLCI. Exception to this is the government funds which record an

Islamic funds
t-statistic
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
t-statistic
Non-governmental funds
t-statistic
Market (KLCI)

Pre-crisis

During crisis

Post-crisis

Overall

0.000781
("0.543283)
0.006926
("0.496229)
0.011311
("0.052740)
0.002673
("0.802749)
0.012147

0.024430
(0.860750)
0.003064
(0.662587)
0.005057
(0.509891)
0.009267
(0.863347)
"0.019811

0.004767
("0.242770)
0.007751
("0.317379)
0.012837
("0.050591)
0.004742
("0.443947)
0.014647

0.007197
("0.029178)
0.007309
("0.048464)
0.011949
(0.143911)
0.005359
("0.159691)
0.008103

Table II.
Non risk-adjusted
returns of unit trust
funds over market
portfolio

MF
33,2

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

148

average monthly returns of 1.19 per cent. One plausible reason for this is that these
government funds are closely monitored by government agencies which are
responsible for ensuring good performance of the funds. Therefore, these government
funds may have better opportunities of investing in government-backed projects as
compared to any other funds. Furthermore, government-backed projects are relatively
more secure and stand a better chance of generating good returns.
Risk-adjusted average monthly returns of unit trust funds
Table III presents the comparative performance analysis over a 10-year period for Islamic
funds vs conventional funds as well as for governmental vs non-governmental funds.
It is shown that conventional funds perform better than Islamic funds during the
pre-crisis period using various types of performance measures: Adjusted Sharpe Index,
Treynor Index, Adjusted Jensen Index, Modigliani Measures and the Information
Ratio. However, the opposite is also true during the crisis and post-crisis periods.
During the crisis period, regardless of the type of return measurements used, Islamic

Period

Funds

Pre-crisis

Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental
funds
t-statistic
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental
funds
t-statistic
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental
funds
t-statistic
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental
funds
t-statistic

During
crisis

Post-crisis

Overall

Table III.
Risk adjusted monthly
returns of different
classes of unit
trust funds

Treynors
Index

Adjusted
Jensens
Alpha
Index

Modigliani
Measures

Information
Ratio

"0.1047
"0.0196
("1.841)*
0.0225

"0.0086
0.0028
("1.068)
0.0109

"0.0158
"0.0044
("1.068)
0.0037

"0.0073
"0.0014
("1.837)*
0.0015

"0.3592
"0.1296
("1.488)
"0.0144

"0.0673
(2.495)**
0.0025
"0.1523
(2.598)**
"0.1798

"0.0049
(1.904)*
0.0031
"0.0494
(1.366)
"0.037

"0.0121
(1.904)*
0.0284
"0.0241
(1.3657)
"0.0117

"0.0047
(2.496)**
0.0013
"0.0268
(2.575)**
"0.0319

"0.2091
(2.224)**
0.2459
0.2458
(0.001)
0.1998

"0.0879
("1.650)
0.0393
0.0183
(0.766)
0.0035

"0.0377
(0.017)
0.0209
0.0025
(0.216)
0.0264

"0.0123
(0.017)
0.0088
"0.0095
(0.216)
0.0143

"0.0151
("1.645)
0.0181
0.0125
(1.235)
0.0099

0.2677
("0.285)
"0.0685
"0.0457
("0.422)
"0.0109

0.0308
("1.105)
"0.0053
"0.0324
(1.169)
"0.0207

"0.0017
(0.367)
"0.0998
"0.0088
("0.037)
0.0073

"0.0138
(0.367)
"0.0138
"0.0127
("0.036)
0.0036

0.0153
("1.326)
"0.00057
"0.0038
(1.184)
"0.0024

"0.0673
(1.274)
"0.0084
"0.0084
("3.9E-05)
0.0345

"0.029
(0.390)

"0.0159
(0.852)

"0.0197
(0.852)

"0.0034
(0.391)

"0.029
"1.03

Adjusted
Sharpes
Index

Notes: * Indicates significance at the 10 per cent; ** indicates significance at the 5 per cent

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

funds record positive average monthly while the conventional funds show negative
average monthly returns. In the post-crisis period, the performance of Islamic funds is
also better than that of the conventional funds.
An intuitive explanation for this is that since Islamic funds are restricted to invest in
products, which comply with the Shariah principles, the investment choices of Islamic
funds are relatively limited in scope when compared to the investment choices
available for conventional funds. Conventional funds tend to perform better than the
Islamic funds during bullish market trend because conventional funds are able to
invest in any stocks including those with high risks exposure. Accordingly, the riskreturn trade off suggests that the returns from investing in risky investments should be
high in order to compensate investors for the high level of risks assumed. The opposite
is also true during bearish market trend. Since the investment of Islamic funds
excludes usury, gambling and ambiguity or uncertainty elements, Islamic funds have a
lower degree of risk exposure than conventional funds and therefore are able to
minimize their overall risk level. This contributes to making the investment of Islamic
funds relatively less volatile during the crisis period and thus, resulting in a better
return during bearish economic conditions. Nevertheless, the differences in the
performance between Islamic and conventional funds are marginally significant.
Similarly, a comparative analysis for the governmental and non-governmental
funds reveals that governmental funds perform better than non-governmental funds
during the pre-crisis period and the differences are statistically significant. However,
during and after the crisis periods, the differences in the performance between these
two funds are no longer statistically significant. This could be due to the fact that
special attention is given by the Malaysian government in its effort to minimize
political risk and to ensure that all conventional funds be they governmental or nongovernmental, are equally competitive in the market.
Differences in risks of unit trust funds
Beta, standard deviation and coefficient of variation are used to measure systematic risk,
total risk and risk per unit of returns. As shown in Table IV, over the 10-year period, the
beta values of Islamic funds and conventional funds are 0.251 and 0.383, respectively.
This suggests that Islamic funds are less sensitive to changes in the market as compared
to conventional funds. Such findings are not surprising given that Islamic funds are
restricted to invest in Shariah-approved stocks only. Within the conventional funds,
governmental funds appear to show a higher level of systematic risks than the nongovernmental funds. The beta values for both governmental and non-governmental
funds are 0.4877 and 0.2998, respectively. This implies that changes in the market will
have greater impact on the governmental funds than on the non-governmental funds.
Table IV also reveals that the investment returns of Islamic funds are less variable
and thus less risky than the conventional funds. Over the 10-year period, the standard
deviation of returns of 0.1295 for the Islamic funds is lower than that of the
conventional funds which is 0.1566. The findings also indicate that the variability of
returns for governmental funds is much higher than that of the non-governmental
funds. The standard deviation of returns for governmental and non-governmental
funds are 0.2100 and 0.1262, respectively.
In terms of risk per unit of return, as shown in Table IV, Islamic funds have a lower
value than conventional funds. The coefficient of variations for Islamic and
conventional funds are 17.9972 and 21.4178, respectively. On the other hand, although
the standard deviation of returns for governmental funds is higher than that of the

Malaysian
Islamic unit
trust funds
149

MF
33,2

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

150

Table IV.
Differences in risks of
unit trust funds as
measured by beta

Beta
Funds
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental funds
t-statistic
Standard deviation
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental funds
t-statistic
Coefficient of variation
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental funds
t-statistic

Pre-crisis

During crisis

Post-crisis

Overall

0.575769
0.679004
("0.866223)
0.730952
0.638741
(1.132801)

0.374707
0.647849
("1.443814)
0.819279
0.477680
(2.036165)*

0.141840
0.168516
("0.616671)
0.171547
0.159892
(0.31649)

0.251128
0.383173
("1.901845)
0.487663
0.299827
(3.128808)**

0.050421
0.092819
("0.935872)
0.115341
0.067686
(1.275648)

0.237621
0.221600
(0.114755)
0.263680
0.207518
(0.446388)

0.072436
0.108288
("0.71171)
0.150526
0.079931
(1.574359)

0.129528
0.156552
("0.399858)
0.210029
0.126238
(1.390866)

64.524025
13.400770
(1.44431)
10.197726
25.22635
("1.033506)

9.726549
72.313126
(0.892007)
52.146350
22.393470
(0.810646)

15.196741
13.970884
(0.59148)
11.725764
16.856388
(0.77804)

17.9972
21.417863
("0.739998)
17.576680
23.557523
(0.64716)

Notes: * Indicates significance at the 10 per cent; ** indicates significance at the 5 per cent

non-governmental funds, the relative variation of governmental funds is smaller than

that of the non-governmental funds. However, the differences in risks between Islamic
and conventional funds as well as between the governmental and non-governmental
funds are only marginally significant.
Diversification level of unit trust funds
The coefficient of determination, R2 is used to measure the degree of diversification of
the fund relative to the diversification of the market portfolio. The results in Table V
shows that conventional funds have a marginally better diversification level than the
Islamic funds.
Since conventional funds do not have much restrictions in terms of their investment
choices, it is therefore not surprising that the R2 of 0.2854 for conventional funds is
higher than the R2 of 0.2618 for the Islamic funds. Meanwhile, during the same period,

Funds

Table V.
Diversification level (R2)
of unit trust funds

Islamic funds
Conventional funds
t-statistic
Governmental funds
Non-governmental funds
t-statistic

Income
0.235441
0.264147
("0.38706)
0.347976
0.228837
(0.1900223)

Objective
Balance
0.266965
0.242193
(0.336758)
0.234743
0.254262
("0.363497)

Growth

Overall

0.265875
0.324325
("0.71418)
0.331997
0.305018
"0.31

0.261839
0.285356
("0.45434)
0.276533
0.281843
("0.113327)

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

there are hardly any differences in the diversification level between governmental and
non-governmental funds. This could be due to the fact that both of the funds
have almost equal investment opportunities. Nevertheless, the differences in the levels of
diversification for the funds are not statistically significant. The findings of low
diversification level for the funds are consistent with the results of previous studies
such as Koh et al. (1987), Shamsher and Annuar (1995) and Shamsher et al. (2000).
Selection performance of unit trust funds
The results in Table VI indicate that the selection abilities of Islamic and conventional
fund managers are negative and statistically significant. Although both fund managers
have poor selectivity performance, the selection ability of conventional fund managers
seems to be better than that of the Islamic fund managers. The selection abilities of
governmental and non-governmental funds are also negative, but only the nongovernmental fund managers show statistically significant negative selection ability.

Malaysian
Islamic unit
trust funds
151

Market timing performance of unit trust funds

Table VII presents findings on the market timing abilities of fund managers. For the
overall period, the negative timing coefficients for Islamic and conventional fund
"a
Funds
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
Governmental funds
Non-governmental funds

Pre-crisis

During crisis

Post-crisis

Overall

"0.013337
("2.8908)*
"0.013879
("2.3077)**
"0.007537
("0.7662)
"0.020130
("3.3202)*

"0.043725
("0.7160)
0.012405
(0.3871)
0.014876
(0.2834)
"0.004075
("0.1322)

"0.028864
("2.3133)**
"0.025880
("1.7145)***
"0.014273
("0.6611)
"0.031613
("2.4446)**

"0.027293
("3.2724)*
"0.016079
("2.2287)**
"0.006831
("0.6550)
"0.024083
("3.7241)**

Notes: * Indicates significance at the 1 per cent; ** indicates significance at the 5 per cent;
*** indicates significance at the 10 per cent; aHeteroscedasticity and serial correlation problems
are corrected by using Whites correction test (1980) and Newey-Wests correction test (1987) when
necessary

Table VI.
Selection performance
(") of unit trust funds

$
Funds
Islamic funds
Conventional funds
Governmental funds
Non-governmental funds

Pre-crisis

During crisis

Post-crisis

Overall

"0.554124
("1.4531)
"0.330591
("0.6651)
"0.353337
("0.4346)
"0.393200
("0.7846)

1.246815
(0.8254)
"0.532492
("0.6719)
"0.034723
("0.0267)
"0.270850
("0.3552)

0.200465
(0.7684)
0.256704
(0.8133)
"0.017918
("0.0397)
0.354440
(1.3108)

"0.045612
("0.2096)
"0.427398
("2.2706)*
"0.613115
("2.2535)*
"0.216750
("1.2847)

Note: * Indicates significance at the 5 per cent

Table VII.
Market timing
ability ($) of mutual
funds managers

MF
33,2

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

152

managers suggest that both managers do not possess good market timing abilities.
However, the timing coefficient for Islamic funds is not statistically significant. This
could be due to the fact that the investment choices of Islamic fund managers are less
dependent on the fluctuation of the economy since their investments are not cyclical in
nature. Similarly, over the 10-year period, the governmental and non-governmental
fund managers also show poor market timing abilities but the timing estimate is only
significant for the governmental funds. The results of negative timing performance are
consistent with most of the previous findings for examples: Henriksson (1984), Chen
et al. (1992), Coggin et al. (1993) and Annuar et al. (1997).
Conclusion and implication
The primary focus of this study is to ascertain the relative performance of Islamic and
conventional funds across different economic conditions. The study further divides the
conventional funds into governmental and non-governmental funds. In this regard, we
conduct a comparative performance analysis between Islamic and conventional funds
as well as between governmental and non-governmental funds over three different
economic periods namely pre, during and post economic crisis. The results show that
performances of the funds are marginally below than that of the market.
A relative measure of variability indicate that Islamic funds are less risky than
conventional funds. Similarly, governmental funds are found to be less risky than nongovernmental funds. Both Islamic and conventional funds have diversification levels
which are less than 50 per cent of the diversification level of the market portfolio.
Although governmental funds have a marginally better diversification level than the
non-governmental funds, their diversification levels are also below 50 per cent. Poor
selection and market timing abilities are documented for all classes of funds Islamic,
conventional, government and non-government funds.
Our results also indicate that Islamic funds perform better than conventional funds
during bearish economic trend i.e. during the crisis period. However, during bullish trend
defined as the pre-crisis period, the performance of conventional funds is better than that
of the Islamic funds. This implies that Islamic funds can be used as a hedging instrument
during any financial meltdown or economic slowdown. The findings of the study may
have important implications for investors and regulatory agencies of the unit trust
industry. In view of the fact that conventional funds perform better than Islamic funds
during good economic period and vice-versa during bad economic period, this provides
good justification for the market regulators to further enhance the ICM in Malaysia.
Notes
1. List of Securities Approved by Shariah Advisory Council of the Securities Commission,
26 October 2001. Securities Commission.
2. Based on the Shariah guideline, investment in the property sector, which normally has a
debt level of more than 50 per cent, is not permitted.
3. The continuous monthly risk-free return is calculated using the following equation:
rft (ln[1 rft]/12).
References
Annuar, M.N., Shamsher, M. and Ngu, M.H. (1997), Selectivity and timing: evidence from
the performance of Malaysian unit trusts, Pertanika Journal of Social Science and
Humanities, Vol. 5, pp. 45-57.

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

Chen, C.R., Cheng F.L., Rahman, S. and Chan, A. (1992), A cross sectional analysis of mutual
funds market timing and security selection skill, Journal of Business Finance and
Accounting, Vol. 19, pp. 659-74.
Coggin, D.T., Fabozzi, F.J. and Rahman, S. (1993), The investment performance of US
equity pension fund managers: an empirical investigation, Journal of Finance, Vol. 48,
pp. 1039-55.
Henriksson, R. (1984), Market timing and mutual fund performance: an empirical investigation,
Journal of Business, Vol. 57, pp. 73-96.
Jobson, J. and Korkie, R. (1981), Performance hypothesis testing with the sharpe and treynor
measures, Journal of Finance, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 889-908.
Koh, F., Koh, S.K. and Cheng, T.C. (1987), An empirical analysis of the performance of unit trusts
in singapore, Securities Industry Review, Vol. 13, October, pp. 1-14.
Kon, S.J. (1983), The market timing performance of mutual fund managers, Journal of Business,
Vol. 56, pp. 321-47.
Kon, S.J. and Jen, F.C. (1979), The investment performance of mutual funds: an empirical
investigation of timing, selectivity and market efficiency, Journal of Business, Vol. 63,
pp. 261-78.
McDonald, J.G. (1974), Objectives and performance of mutual funds, Journal of Finance and
Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 13, pp. 311-33.
Modigliani, F. and Modigliani, L. (1997), Risk adjusted performance, Journal of Portfolio
Management, Vol. 23, pp. 45-54.
Newey, W.K. and West, K.D. (1987), A simple positive semi-definite heteroskedasticity and
autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix, Econometrica, Vol. 55, pp. 703-8.
Shamsher, M. and Annuar, M.N. (1995), The performance of unit trusts in malaysia: some
evidence, Capital Market Review, Vol. 3, pp. 51-64.
Shamsher, M., Annuar, M.N. and Taufiq, H. (2000), Investment in unit trusts: performance of
active and passive funds, Proceedings of FEP Seminar 2000: Issues in Accounting and
Finance 2, Universiti Putra Malaysia Press, Serdang, pp. 129-41.
Treynor, J.L. and Mazuy, K.K. (1966), Can mutual funds outguess the market?, Harvard
Business Review, Vol. 44, pp. 131-6.
White, H. (1980), A heteroscedasticity consistent covariance matrix estimator and a direct test of
heteroscedasticity, Econometrica, Vol. 48, pp. 817-8.
Futher reading
Jobson, J. and Korkie, R. (1982), Potential performance and test of portfolio efficiency, Journal
of Financial Economics, Vol. 10, pp. 433-66.
Lee, C.F. and Rahman, S. (1990), Market timing, selectivity and a mutual fund performance: an
empirical examination, Journal of Business, Vol. 63, pp. 261-78.
Corresponding author
Fikriyah Abdullah can be contacted at: fibriyah@uum.edu.my

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

Malaysian
Islamic unit
trust funds
153

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

This article has been cited by:

1. FarooqOmar Omar Farooq Omar Farooq is an Associate Professor of Finance at the American University
in Cairo, Egypt. He has also taught at the Aalborg University (Denmark) and the Al Akhawayn University
in Ifrane (Morocco). His research interests are on corporate governance mechanisms in emerging markets
and value relevance of financial analyst in emerging markets. AlahkamAmal Amal Alahkam Amal Alahkam
is a Graduate Student in Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Her area of research is corporate
finance. Department of Management, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt School of Business
Administration, Al Akawayn University in Ifrane, Ifrane, Morocco . 2016. Performance of shariahcompliant firms and non-shariah-compliant firms in the MENA region. Journal of Islamic Accounting and
Business Research 7:4, 268-281. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
2. Christos Alexakis, Vasileios Pappas, Alexandros Tsikouras. 2016. Hidden cointegration reveals hidden
values in Islamic investments. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money .
[CrossRef]
3. Elias Erragragui, Christophe Revelli. 2016. Is it costly to be both shariah compliant and socially
responsible?. Review of Financial Economics . [CrossRef]
4. Yunieta Nainggolan, Janice How, Peter Verhoeven. 2016. Ethical Screening and Financial Performance:
The Case of Islamic Equity Funds. Journal of Business Ethics 137:1, 83-99. [CrossRef]
5. BousalamIssam Issam Bousalam HamzaouiMoustapha Moustapha Hamzaoui Department of Economics,
Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tangier, Morocco . 2016. Impact of ethical screening on risk and returns.
Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance 24:3, 268-291. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
6. Osamah M. Al-Khazali, Guillaume Leduc, Mohammad Saleh Alsayed. 2016. A Market Efficiency
Comparison of Islamic and Non-Islamic Stock Indices. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade 52:7,
1587-1605. [CrossRef]
7. Yin Foo Chen, Michelle Tho Zin Lim. 2016. Diversification: A Sharia Effect? Some Evidence from
Malaysia. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 219, 193-200. [CrossRef]
8. Hesham Merdad, M. Kabir Hassan, Mohsin Khawaja. 2016. Does Faith Matter in Mutual Funds Investing?
Evidence from Saudi Arabia. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade 52:4, 938-960. [CrossRef]
9. Pejman Abedifar, Shahid M. Ebrahim, Philip Molyneux, Amine TaraziIslamic Banking and Finance:
Recent Empirical Literature and Directions for Future Research 59-91. [CrossRef]
10. Dawood Ashraf. 2016. Does Shariah Screening Cause Abnormal Returns? Empirical Evidence from Islamic
Equity Indices. Journal of Business Ethics 134:2, 209-228. [CrossRef]
11. Zaimy Johana Johan, Lennora Putit. 2016. Conceptualizing the Influences of Knowledge and Religiosity
on Islamic Credit Card Compliance. Procedia Economics and Finance 37, 480-487. [CrossRef]
12. Syed Aun R. Rizvi, Nafis AlamIslamic Capital Market Research: Past Trends and Future Considerations
1-13. [CrossRef]
13. Nafis Alam, Kin Boon Tang, Mohammad Shadique RajjaqueA Comparative Performance of Conventional
and Islamic Unit Trusts: Market Timing and Persistence Evidence 105-121. [CrossRef]
14. Nafis Alam, Mohammad Shadique RajjaqueShariah-Compliant Equities: Empirical Evaluation of
Performance in the European Market during Credit Crunch 122-140. [CrossRef]
15. Azadeh Farhoush, Nicolas SchmidtIslamic Finance in Germany: Trends, Opportunities, and Potential
235-266. [CrossRef]

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

16. Pejman Abedifar, Shahid M. Ebrahim, Philip Molyneux, Amine Tarazi. 2015. ISLAMIC BANKING
AND FINANCE: RECENT EMPIRICAL LITERATURE AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE
RESEARCH. Journal of Economic Surveys 29:4, 637-670. [CrossRef]
17. Ainulashikin Marzuki Department of Economics and Muamalat, Unversiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Bandar
Baru, Nilai, Malaysia Andrew Worthington Accounting, Finance and Economics, Griffith University,
Nathan, Australia . 2015. Comparative performance-related fund flows for Malaysian Islamic and
conventional equity funds. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management
8:3, 380-394. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
18. Ahmad Ridhuwan Abdullah Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kota
Bharu, Malaysia Nur Adiana Hiau Abdullah School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara
Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia . 2015. Lippers rating and the performance of unit trusts in Malaysia. Studies
in Economics and Finance 32:3, 322-339. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
19. Riaz Dhai. 2015. A comparison of the performance of the FTSE South Africa Islamic Index to the
conventional market (JSE) in South Africa. South African Journal of Accounting Research 29:2, 101-114.
[CrossRef]
20. Rashid Ameer. 2015. Idiosyncratic Risk of Investing in Islamic Capital Market Equities. The Journal of
Investing 24:2, 79-89. [CrossRef]
21. Dr Monzurul Hoque Mustafa Dah Department of Finance, Lebanese American University, Lebanon,
Lebanon Monzurul Hoque Department of Economics and Finance, Saint Xavier University, Chicago,
Illinois, USA Song Wang Department of Economics and Finance, Saint Xavier University, Chicago, Illinois,
USA . 2015. Constrained investments and opportunity cost evidence from Islamic funds. Managerial
Finance 41:4, 348-367. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
22. Jonathan Peillex, Loredana Ureche-Rangau. 2015. Comment expliquer la performance financire de
linvestissement conforme la Charia?. Management international 19:2, 128. [CrossRef]
23. Fernando Muoz, Maria Vargas, Isabel Marco. 2014. Environmental Mutual Funds: Financial Performance
and Managerial Abilities. Journal of Business Ethics 124:4, 551-569. [CrossRef]
24. Omokolade Akinsomi, Seow Eng Ong, Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Graeme Newell. 2014. The
idiosyncratic risks of a Shariah compliant REIT investor. Journal of Property Research 31:3, 211-243.
[CrossRef]
25. Mejda Bahlous Accounting and Finance, American University in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates;
and IHEC Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia Rosylin Mohd. Yusof Economics, University UTARA Malaysia,
Sintok, Malaysia . 2014. International diversification among Islamic investments: is there any benefit.
Managerial Finance 40:6, 613-633. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
26. Fredj Jawadi, Nabila Jawadi, Wal Louhichi. 2014. Conventional and Islamic stock price performance: An
empirical investigation. International Economics 137, 73-87. [CrossRef]
27. Achraf Ghorbel, Mouna Abdelhedi, Younes Boujelbene. 2014. Assessing the Impact of Crude Oil Price and
Investor Sentiment on Islamic Indices: Subprime Crisis. Journal of African Business 15:1, 13-24. [CrossRef]
28. Nafis Alam, Kin Boon Tang, Mohammad Shadique Rajjaque. 2013. A comparative performance of
conventional and Islamic unit trusts: Market timing and persistence evidence. Journal of Financial Services
Marketing 18:4, 316-326. [CrossRef]
29. Yasser Alhenawi, M. Kabir Hassan. 2013. What Does the U.S. REIT Market Have in Store for
Nonconventional Investors? The Case of Shariah Compliance. The Journal of Investing 22:4, 61-82.
[CrossRef]

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

30. Saeed BinMahfouzDurham Business School, Durham University, Durham, UK M. Kabir

HassanDepartment of Economics and Finance, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
2013. Sustainable and socially responsible investing. Humanomics 29:3, 164-186. [Abstract] [Full Text]
[PDF]
31. Dawood AshrafDepartment of Finance and Accounting, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al
Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 2013. Performance evaluation of Islamic mutual funds relative to
conventional funds. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management 6:2,
105-121. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
32. Sulaiman Abdullah Saif Al NasserSchool of Management (SOM), Science University of Malaysia (USM),
Penang, Malaysia Datin Dr Joriah MuhammedSchool of Management (SOM), Science University of
Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia. 2013. Introduction to history of Islamic banking in Malaysia.
Humanomics 29:2, 80-87. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
33. Dr Daphne HalkiasHameedah SayaniMiddlesex University Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Melodena
Stephens BalakrishnanUniversity of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 2013. Marketing
an Islamic index: perceived value of KMI30 Index. Management Research Review 36:4, 326-358. [Abstract]
[Full Text] [PDF]
34. HESHAM MERDAD, M. KABIR HASSANIslamic Mutual Funds' Performance in Saudi Arabia
303-321. [CrossRef]
35. Hooi Hooi Lean, Parham Parsva. 2012. Performance of Islamic Indices in Malaysia FTSE Market:
Empirical Evidence from CAPM. Journal of Applied Sciences 12:12, 1274-1281. [CrossRef]
36. Kabir HassanJose Francisco RubioDepartment of Economics and Finance, University of New Orleans,
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA M. Kabir HassanDepartment of Economics and Finance, University of New
Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, Hesham Jamil MerdadDepartment of Finance & Economics, King
Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 2012. Nonparametric
performance measurement of international and Islamic mutual funds. Accounting Research Journal 25:3,
208-226. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
37. Nurasyikin JamaludinDepartment of Accounting and Finance, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu,
Terengganu, Malaysia Malcolm SmithEdith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia Paul
GerransUniversity of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia. 2012. Mutual fund selection criteria: evidence
from Malaysia. Asian Review of Accounting 20:2, 140-151. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
38. Luis Ferruz, Fernando Muoz, Mara Vargas. 2012. Managerial Abilities: Evidence from Religious Mutual
Fund Managers. Journal of Business Ethics 105:4, 503-517. [CrossRef]
39. Andreas G.F. Hoepner, Hussain G. Rammal, Michael Rezec. 2011. Islamic mutual funds financial
performance and international investment style: evidence from 20 countries. The European Journal of
Finance 17:9-10, 829-850. [CrossRef]
40. Raphie Hayat, Roman Kraeussl. 2011. Risk and return characteristics of Islamic equity funds. Emerging
Markets Review 12:2, 189-203. [CrossRef]
41. Abdul Halmie Muhamad, Abdul Halim Mohd NawawiEvaluation on international unit trust funds: A case
for Malaysia 24-29. [CrossRef]
42. Masudul Alam Choudhury Chapter 14 The Islamic Panacea to Global Financial Predicament: A New
Financial Architecture 279-307. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] [PDF]

Downloaded by Universiti Teknologi MARA At 19:51 07 October 2016 (PT)

43. Nafis Alam, Mohammad Shadique Rajjaque. 2010. Shariah-compliant equities: Empirical evaluation of
performance in the European market during credit crunch. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 15:S3,
228-240. [CrossRef]
44. M. Kabir HassanUniversity of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Abu Nahian Faisal
KhanUniversity of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Thiti NgowUniversity of New Orleans,
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 2010. Is faithbased investing rewarding? The case for Malaysian Islamic
unit trust funds. Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research 1:2, 148-171. [Abstract] [Full Text]
[PDF]
45. Ming-Ming Lai, Siok-Hwa Lau. 2010. Evaluating mutual fund performance in an emerging Asian
economy: The Malaysian experience. Journal of Asian Economics 21:4, 378-390. [CrossRef]
46. Norma Md. SaadDepartment of Economics, Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences,
International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia M. Shabri Abd. MajidDepartment
of Economics, Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Salina KassimDepartment of Economics, Kulliyyah of Economics
and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Zarinah
HamidDepartment of Economics, Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic
University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Rosylin Mohd. YusofDepartment of Economics, Kulliyyah of
Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2010. A comparative analysis of the performance of conventional and Islamic unit trust companies in
Malaysia. International Journal of Managerial Finance 6:1, 24-47. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
47. Graeme Newell, Atasya Osmadi. 2009. The development and preliminary performance analysis of Islamic
REITs in Malaysia. Journal of Property Research 26:4, 329-347. [CrossRef]