How do Islamic equities respond to monetary actions?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to appraise the effectiveness of monetary policy actions in variant market conditions for Islamic stocks. These stocks offer ground for a natural experiment as they have restrictions on the line of business and their distinguished capital structure does not allow them to combat the liquidity crisis through the use of leverage. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses the quantile regression approach for a multi-country sample of Islamic stock indices to assess the impact of domestic as well as US expansionary monetary policy on stock returns of Islamic indices at various locations of distribution of returns. Findings - It is found that, at lower return levels, an expansionary monetary policy has a negative effect on the returns. In other cases, there is no significant impact of policy rate change on index returns. Research limitations/implications - It is more appropriate to use firm level data of Islamic stocks instead of stock indices. However, the information regarding index constituents is not publicly available. Practical implications - The paper offers useful information to investors and policy makers. It shows that central banks should improve their credibility for monetary policy to be effective and their policies must be designed keeping in view the strong impact of US rate on global monetary environment. Originality/value - This paper provides first empirical evidence of the impact of discount rates on the returns of Islamic stocks in different market conditions.