Active Global Equity Shariah ETF Report | August 2025

Shariah Active ETF Key Takeaways

Earnings season provided irrefutable evidence that the hyper-scalers remain engaged in an LLM land rush. Increased capex was the order of the day, while AI laggards, such as Apple, admitted that M&A was a potential path to getting back on track. Unsurprisingly, Nvidia continued to perform well, rising 12.6% during July.[1]

While segments of technology continued to run up, pharmaceuticals remain pressured. Tariffs are a problem most of them can handle easily enough, although several companies have announced large US investments, with the latest being AstraZeneca’s $50 billion US investment plan.[2] More problematic would be efforts to introduce “Most Favored Nation” pricing to the US, which would align US drug costs with other developed countries. While legally questionable, the risk remains in play.

In July, the Saturna Al Kawthar Global Focused Equity UCITS ETF returned 0.76%, slightly ahead of Islamic indexes, while slightly trailing conventional global benchmarks.[3] Stock selection was positive in all sectors apart from technology, where it turned negative following a few months of positive readings. Industrials and healthcare, especially the former, overcame the contribution gap created by the lagging tech performance. Together the three sectors account for over 75% of the fund’s exposure.

In technology, our investments in ASML, Texas Instruments, Adobe and ServiceNow were weak, while Nvidia, Microsoft and TSMC did well.

The Industrial sector was the performance standout, led by Japanese optical connect company Fujikura and Italian cable firm Prysmian. Electric components firms Eaton and the UK’s nVents also performed well.

In healthcare, fund holdings declined less than the benchmark on positive returns from Swiss generics firm Sandoz and from AstraZeneca.

In terms of benchmark sector returns, energy was the strongest performer and still carries exposure over 10%, creating a headwind that we managed to overcome.

Please note that all performance figures are showing net data. Past performance is not indicative of future performance and when you invest in ETFs your capital is at risk.

 

Hawley a day goes by without a tariff announcement but now it’s a Smoot point

After announcing a flourish of trade deals in the final week of July, most of which contained little actual detail, US President Trump issued an executive order outlining the “reciprocal” tariffs to be imposed on countries around the world. With this action, the US reverts to an average tariff rate not seen since the 1930’s. Some, like tiny Lesotho, saw their inexplicable 50% tariff drop to 15%, a rate shared by a large number of countries as diverse as Iceland, Vanuatu, Japan and Zimbabwe. Brazil replaced Lesotho at the top of the list with a 50% rate, motivated for purely political reasons and economically perplexing given the US enjoys a trade surplus with the country. In such moves lay the eventual demise of the tariff shenanigans. Article 1 of the US constitution clearly places responsibility for setting taxes and duties with congress. Over the years laws have been passed to provide presidents with the ability to temporarily impose tariffs in emergency situations. What exactly is the emergency in Brazil’s treatment of a former president who attempted to overturn an election? What is the economic emergency? The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals expressed considerable skepticism over the validity of the moves and appears set to overturn them – an order that would immediately be stayed in anticipation of an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. While SCOTUS has been tremendously deferential to the executive, there’s also a majority of “originalists” capable of reading what’s plainly written in the constitution. Don’t be surprised to wake up one day and find we’re back to square one on tariffs.

ESGO (Fund)VGLD30EN (Index)
1M32.88%33.02%
3M9.97%10.17%
6M-14.37%-12.51%
YTD15.48%18.20%
12M52.69%56.81%
3Y224.13%238.13%
Since Inception (02/07/2021)175.69%191.41%


Please note that all performance figures are showing net data. Source: Bloomberg / HANetf. Data as of 31.08.2026

Performance before inception is based on back-tested data. Backtesting is the process of evaluating an investment strategy by applying it to historical data to simulate what the performance of such a strategy would have been. Back-tested data does not represent actual performance and should not be interpreted as an indication of actual or future performance. Past performance for the index is in USD. Past performance is not an indicator for future results and should not be the sole factor of consideration when selecting a product. Investors should read the prospectus of the Issuer (“Prospectus”) before investing and should refer to the section of the Prospectus entitled ‘Risk Factors’ for further details of risks associated with an investment in this product. When you invest in ETFs your capital is at risk.

[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/were-2-best-performing-stocks-121300722.html

[2] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/astrazeneca-unveils-50-billion-us-investment-pharma-tariff-threat-looms-2025-07-21/

[3] Source: HANetf; Bloomberg. Data as of 31.07.2025.

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