Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), a leading investment research firm and stock market index provider, included the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in its MSCI FM Standard Pakistan Index, according to Arif Habib Limited (AHL). This marks a positive development for the Pakistani stock market.
There are no changes to the MSCI Small Cap Index for Pakistan. The addition of NBP brings the total number of constituents in the MSCI Standard Index to 21, including HUBC, UBL, LUCK, ENGRO, MCB, HBL, EFERT, BAHL, PPL, OGDC, MTL, MARI, FFC, SYS, POL, PSO, BAFL, TRG, ILP, SNGP, and now NBP. The MSCI Small Cap Index for Pakistan remains at 56 constituents.
Pakistan’s weight in the FM Standard Index is expected to reach around 3.7 percent. Notably, the KSE100 index has outperformed all MSCI frontier markets and the MSCI FM Index year-to-date in FY24, delivering an impressive return of 85 percent. Additionally, Pakistan retains its position as the second most liquid market within the MSCI FM space, boasting an average daily traded value of USD 54.2 million year-to-date in FY24.
AHL predicts that NBP will hold an estimated weight of 0.06 percent in the MSCI Main Index, with a potential inflow of $2.5 million, translating to approximately 17.5 million shares based on the previous day’s closing price.