Karachi September 15 2023: Foreign investors divested USD 7.05 million worth of shares during today’s trading session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange, as part of the FTSE rebalancing.
Earlier, FTSE conducted its semi-annual review, resulting in the removal of 12 Pakistani securities, the downgrade of 2, and the addition of 1 to its Global Equity Index Series. This action by FTSE had a significant impact on Pakistani stocks, leading to 12 removals, 2 downgrades, and 1 addition.
On Friday, despite foreign selling, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s 100-index displayed a bullish trend, primarily due to the Central Bank’s decision to maintain the status quo. The index closed with a gain of 103.46 points, representing a positive shift of 0.23 percent, concluding at 45,753.51 points, up from the previous day’s 45,650.05 points.
Foreign investors notably offloaded shares worth USD 7.05 million, with a particular focus on the banking and cement sectors. More specifically, foreign corporations divested USD 5.32 million in the banking sector and USD 1.09 million in the cement sector. In contrast, individual investors purchased shares worth USD 2.10 million, while other organizations invested USD 2.8 million in shares. Mutual Funds were net buyers of USD 1.0 million, whereas banks sold shares amounting to 0.01 million.
The trading volume for the day reached 222,531,077 shares traded, marking an increase from the 138,172,896 shares traded the previous day.
During the trading session, a total of 319 companies participated in share transactions on the stock market. Among them, 176 companies recorded gains, 109 experienced losses, and the share prices of 34 companies remained unchanged.
The three most actively traded companies were MCB Bank Ltd, with 27,208,683 shares traded at PKR 125.70 per share; Maple Leaf, with 24,656,852 shares traded at PKR 29.42 per share; and Nishat ChunPower Company, with 13,979,000 shares traded at PKR 18.82 per share.
