Bursa Malaysia plans to expand its appeal

With an Islamic finance market worth $1,000bn (£611bn, €713bn) in assets, Malaysia has long held up its desire to be the Asian hub for sharia-compliant products.

Now, according to the head of Bursa Malaysia, it wants to extend that expertise and become an Asian hub for commodities too.

Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, chief executive of Malaysia’s stock exchange, reels off a list of innovations aimed at achieving that ambition. “A few years ago we launched an Islamic index. Last month we launched a plantation index. We’ve also created a [dollar denominated] crude palm oil future contract.