Abstract

This study aims to explore the effect of Islamic Months specifically Ramadan and Zil-Haj on the stock returns and volatility of the Islamic Global Equity Indices. For the said purpose, the data on three Global Equity Islamic Indices including; Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index, MSCI ACWI Islamic Index, and S&P Global BMI Shariah Index are collected from 5^th Jan 2011 (1^st Muharram 1432 A.H.) to 12^th November 2015 (30^th Muharram 1437 A.H.). Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and GARCH (1,1) regression methods are applied to analyze the impact of the Islamic months on global stock returns and volatility respectively. Empirical results reveal significant negative impact of Zil-Haj on returns and volatility of Islamic Global Equity Indices. However, no significant impact of Ramadan on returns and volatility of Islamic Global Equity Indices are revealed. These findings will be fascinating and of utmost interest amidst the researchers, investors and practitioners.

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