KARACHI: The benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange took a beating on Friday on account of a falling rupee as well as the announcement of a lower-than-expected weight for Pakistan in the MSCI Fron­tier Market Large Cap Index.

According to Topline Securities, Pakistan’s weight in the MSCI Frontier Market Index will be 1.25 per cent as opposed to the earlier simulated weight of 1.9pc. Only three Pakistani stocks will be added to the MSCI Frontier Market Index — Lucky Cement Ltd, Habib Bank Ltd and MCB Bank Ltd — versus the earlier simulation that included Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd.

As a result, the benchmark index decreased to 45,749.15 points, down 599.03 points or 1.29pc from a day ago.

Market participation decreased 28.6pc to 192.4 million shares on a day-on-day basis.

Sectors taking away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included cement (107.03 points), technology and communication (83.58 points), commercial banking (65.33 points), oil and gas exploration (64.84 points) and fertiliser (62.08 points).

Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included Unity Foods Ltd (14.88m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (14.54m shares), Byco Petroleum Ltd (9.29m shares), Hum Network Ltd (8.58m shares) and TeleCard Ltd (8.07m shares).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index Unity Foods Ltd (9.98 points), Fatima Fertiliser Company Ltd (7.55 points), Feroze1888 Mills Ltd (5.42 points), Atlas Honda Ltd (3.99 points) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (3.85 points).

Shares that contributed negatively included TRG Pakistan Ltd (54.17 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (44.53 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (33.4 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (29.21 points) and Systems Ltd (24.81 points).

Stocks recording the biggest losses in percentage terms included National Refinery Ltd, which went down 7.5pc, followed by Mughal Iron and Steel Industries Ltd (5.6pc), Kohinoor Textile Mills Ltd (5.59pc), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (5.35pc) and Attock Refinery Ltd (5.17pc).

Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased stocks worth $0.56m.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2021