The study focuses on establishing the downside beta for Shariah compliant index, conventional index and bitcoin index (a cryptocurrency) in Malaysia. The indices for the Shariah compliant is the FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS Shariah (FTFBMS), the conventional index used is the FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS (FTFBMEMAS) and the proxy index for the cryptocurrency is the bitcoin. Given the weak track record of cryptocurrencies in Malaysia, the bitcoin is used as a proxy to simulate cryptocurrency behavior in Malaysia. Downside beta for the three portfolios is calculated through the use of historical volatility (HV) and the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) methods. The findings indicate there is a statistically significant difference in downside beta for each of the portfolios, although the difference is very minimal between Shariah compliant index and the conventional index. However, bitcoin poses to be a riskier portfolio with significant difference over both other indices. The low beta for Shariah complaint indices and its conventional counterparts suggests the large market volume the two indices share, still maintaining them as the mainstream financial models. While bitcoin is vastly riskier, it is surely making promising strides as far as financial trading methods are concerned. Moreover, there is great optimism in cryptocurrency models that assimilate moral Islamic trading principles as research has shown Shariah compliant stocks to be more efficient.

The study investigates the effect of the Covid-19 on the volatility of the technology and healthcare sector stock index in Malaysia. The two sectors pose considerable attention during the pandemic due to the increase in demand for healthcare products and digital services. The volatilities are estimated using the GARCH model for the period before and after the implementation of the nationwide movement order control using daily data from September 2019 to September 2020. The finding shows that the Covid-19 pandemic caused a volatility jump for the technology sector index in March 2020 but subsided afterward with estimated conditional volatility revert to normal in the middle of April 2020. However, during the high uncertainty period, the healthcare sector shows a steady increase in volatility beginning in March 2020 till the end of September 2020. The study confirms that there is a significant difference in the volatility of healthcare and technology sectors before and during the Covid-19 outbreak. The outbreak has a significant impact on increasing the volatilities for both sectors but is impacted in different magnitude.