Active Global Equity Shariah ETF Report | June 2025

Shariah Active ETF Key Takeaways

It’s hard to keep pace with the plethora of policy pronouncements pulsating from the White House, as well as reversals that can occur within a day, court rulings disallowing various executive orders, subsequent higher court stays, etc. All that said, the ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade that President Trump lacks the authority to impose global tariffs, will likely turn out to be the most consequential in terms of market performance. While the ruling was subsequently stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the matter will certainly make its way to the Supreme Court which, as of late, has demonstrated tremendous deference to the President. Who gets to determine what constitutes a “national emergency?” If past rulings provide a guide, the Supreme Court’s answer will be, the President, which markets are unlikely to take well.

After taking the remainder of April to recover losses spurred by the “Liberation Day” tariff announcements, markets across the globe continued to rise in May led by Japan, Germany, Spain and the US. France and the UK were relative laggards. Unsurprisingly, China also performed relatively poorly despite the modest climbdown from the initial tariff imposition. We do not have a strong view on whether the recovery continues into June and would simply note that uncertainty continues to reign.

In May, the Saturna Al Kawthar Global Focused Equity UCITS ETF gained 7.58%, broadly in line with various Islamic indexes, although well ahead of conventional global benchmarks due to strong tech and industrials performance in the ETF and modest financials performance in the conventional index. Stock selection was solid across the board, with the one exception of consumer discretionary, entirely due to Tesla’s rebound, which the Fund does not hold. Information technology provided the largest contribution to Fund returns with our selections outperforming the benchmark. Nearly all of our tech stocks performed well, led by Nvidia, Broadcom, Intuit and Taiwan Semiconductor. Apple was the outlier as the administration denigrated the firm’s plans to import iPhones into the US from India. Industrials provided the second largest return and featured the strongest stock selection. Electrification was the theme as Prysmian, Eaton, Schneider Electric and Johnson Controls were the best performers. Healthcare and communications were the other positive contributors. During the month Energy was a non-factor as its weight in the benchmark has dropped to ~11% and modest price performance meant a minimal contribution to benchmark returns.

Source of all performance data: HANetf / Bloomberg as of 31.05.2025. Additional sources available upon request. 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.

A word on debt and deficits

Investors were taken aback when Japan encountered difficulty with a 20-year bond offering, followed by a choppy 40-year auction. With debt to GDP exceeding 200% and interest rates rising, The Bank of Japan’s decision to taper its purchases of government debt has triggered questions as to whether sufficient appetite exists among private Japanese institutions to absorb the government’s funding requirements. Similar questions are at play with the administrations “Big, Beautiful Bill” which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would raise debt by $2.4 trillion over the next decade. At the same time, the budget deficit would rise above 6% of GDP. Meanwhile, European countries typically demonstrate stronger financial ratios, although there are exceptions, such as France. These are sobering numbers with implications for future spending and tax rates, raising the specter of financial repression.

Shariah Active ETF Performance Table                                                                                                                
As of 31.08.2026

AMAL (Fund)
1M2.99%
3M-0.21%
6M6.42%
YTD11.54%
12M16.65%
3Y59.20%
Since Inception (28/09/2020)55.12%


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.

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