KARACHI: Stocks saw consolidation on Wednes­day on the decision by MSCI — a provider of global indices for passive investments — to reduce the weight of Pakistani shares in its frontier market’s benchmark a day ago.

Topline Securities Ltd said the session began on a positive note but succumbed to the selling headwinds in the backdrop of the unexpected outcome of the MSCI review, which will lead to a reduction of Pakistan’s weight in its frontier index by 24 basis points against market expectations.

The stock market saw some excitement when Bloomberg News reported that the ongoing review of the Stand-by Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be over within this week. The news report regenerated buying momentum and caused the index of representative stocks to close on a flat note.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 56,680.07 points after gaining 14.14 points or 0.02 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 25.7pc to 661.6 million shares. The traded value increased 24.6pc to Rs24.3 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (70.2m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (37.1m shares), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (22.4m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (22.1m shares) and Unity Foods Ltd (20.7m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs300), Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs30.69), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs28.10), Murree Brewery Company Ltd (Rs20.32) and Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs18.08).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs27.89), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs22.75), Millat Tractors Ltd (Rs16.10), Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd (Rs13.30) and Lucky Cement Ltd (Rs10.47).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $2.83m.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2023