Understanding the co-movement among asset returns is a critical issue in finance, as investors can minimize risk through diversification. International investors seek alternative asset classes to diversify their portfolio. Therefore, it would be meaningful to investigate whether sukuk (Islamic bond) offer any advantages in terms of global diversification. In this context, we examined the volatilities and correlations of sovereign bond indexes in developed countries, such as the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, Australia, and Japan, and the Thomson Reuters BPA Malaysia Sukuk Index, using wavelet coherence and multivariate-GARCH analyses. The data cover the period January 2010-December 2015. The results of the study significantly highlight that wavelet coherence illustrates lower co-movement between returns on developed market bond index (the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Japan) with returns on the Malaysian sukuk index during the sample period. Moreover, the Malaysian sukuk market has negative unconditional correlation with the US and Canadian bond markets, which is a good sign of diversification benefits. This study reveals attractive opportunities in terms of diversification benefits, with credit quality and sharia-compliant financial sector exposure for investors who want to invest in fixed-income securities.

Some investors strive for capital appreciation while others may follow capital preservation strategies in terms of investment. In relation to that, Islamic finance receives a lot of attention from institutional investors and asset managers in the search for higher returns, lower correlation and growth potentiality. Therefore, it would be meaningful to investigate whether sukuk can offer any advantage in terms of global diversification. In such context, we have examined the volatilities and correlations of bond indices of emerging counties such as South Korea, Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia with Thomson Reuters BPA Malaysia Sukuk Index by applying wavelet coherence and Multivariate GARCH analyses. The data covers the period January 2010 to December 2015. We conclude that the sukuk market offers effective portfolio diversification opportunities for fixed income investors of the mentioned sample countries. Global and regional investors can avail the benefits of portfolio diversification through investment in sukuk markets but portfolio diversification is not feasible domestically. As a practical implication to the finance industry, the outcome of this research provides a framework for investigating sukuk market integration of several emerging bond markets which serve as an important platform for conducting further research.