New products from Bait Al Bursa (from IFN)

BAHRAIN: Bait Al Bursa, the Shariah compliant arm of the Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), plans to expand its business by launching a number of Islamic products in the coming months, which will include Islamic equities, Sukuk and exchange traded funds.

In a response to Islamic Finance news, the bourse also said that it will be introducing other Shariah compliant assets onto its fully automated platform, e-Tayseer, such as industrial equipment, metals and soft commodities.

The current underlying assets for e-Tayseer are cars and car parts.

In addition, the Islamic bourse, which has 20 members including Al Baraka Islamic Bank, ABC Bank, Elaf Bank, Khaleeji Commercial Bank, TAIB Bank and Tadhamon Capital, aims to double that number by the end of this year.

However, BFX, which recently announced a total turnover of US$1 billion as at the 24th April, with its total trading volume increasing to 24,046 contracts, has yet to release trading figures for its Islamic platform. “We have not yet started making the figures about volumes on our Murabahah platform public,” it said.

The Bait Al Bursa was launched in February last year.

Meanwhile, BFX recorded trading turnover of US$523.44 million for the period between the 1st-24th April, 11 times more than in December 2011. “During the same period, the trading volume has increased around 10 times, from 1,170 contracts to 11,150 contracts. The total trading turnover in April 2012 (up to the 24th April), was more than the total trading turnover from the launch date of the 23rd November 2011 to the 31st March 2012,” it said.

See: http://redmoney.newsweaver.co.uk/jf2ohq140u1h38rwoni3wx?email=true&a=6&p=24214275&t=21273775