Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index gained over 600 points on Friday, with experts attributing the surge to the addition of 15 Pakistan-listed companies to Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) main Frontier Market index.

The 100-index gained 616.06 points, a positive change of 1.29 per cent, closing at 48,424.40 points against 47,808.34 points the previous trading day. A total of 368,334,990 shares were traded during the day as compared to 322,207,162 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs17.063 billion against Rs 12.757 billion on the last trading day.

As many as 331 companies transacted their shares in the stock market; 207of them recorded gains and 101 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 23 companies remained unchanged. The three top-trading companies were K-Electric Ltd with 53,872,599 shares at Rs 2.16 per share; Oil and Gas Dev with 22,570,520 shares at Rs.103.47 per share and Lalpir Power with 18,636,000 shares at Rs.32.15 per share.

Nestle Pakistan XD witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 85.85 per share price, closing at Rs 7,181.00, whereas the runner-up was Mari Petroleum with an Rs 27.90 rise in its per share price to Rs 1,636.21. Reliance Cotton witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs 37.50 per share closing at Rs 462.50; followed by Bata (Pak) with Rs 10.00 decline to close at Rs 1,725.00.

Salman Naqvi, head of research at Aba Ali Habib Securities, said the primary reason behind today’s surge was the addition of 15 Pakistan-listed firms to the MSCI FM index in a quarterly review yesterday. “So, Pakistan’s weight, which was [0.6 per cent previously][1], has now increased to 2.6pc. “This means that now there are a lot of Pakistani stocks available in the MSCI [FM] index to foreign investors for purchasing,” he explained.

Moreover, Naqvi continued, there were increments in the power sector as good dividends were expected to be announced along with good payouts. “Apart from this, there is a signal of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) approving the dividend plug-in scheme related to the circular debt, which is why a tremendous increase can be seen in the Pakistan Petroleum, OGDC and PSO [shares].”

He further hoped that a good caretaker government would take over the reins of the country. Meanwhile, Intermarket Securities’ Head of Equity Raza Jafri said the KSE-100 index had ended the week on a “buoyant note”. “Fresh buying is being witnessed, with sentiments supported by Pakistan’s weight increase from 0.6pc to 2.7pc in the MSCI FM index. Banks in particular are seeing strong interest backed by their solid results and cheap valuations,” he added.