MSCI, a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, has maintained status quo in its February 2012 review with Pakistan stock market’s weight remaining intact.
According to the results of the Quarterly Index Review announced by MSCI, two companies – Sacombank (Vietnam) and Ceylon Tobacco Co (Sri Lanka) – will be added to the MSCI Frontier Market Index but there will be no deletion.
For Pakistan, which is among 25 countries of the Frontier Market Index, no change was made in the existing 13 companies.
In May 2009, Pakistan was included in the Frontier Market. Since then, MSCI has been reviewing Pakistan’s situation due to limited number of sizable securities.
In 2011, though Pakistan posted a negative return of 17%, it outperformed all the Frontier Markets in Asia. Sri Lanka declined by 29%, Vietnam posted a negative return of 40% while Bangladesh lagged behind to post a negative return of 44%.
“While the next MSCI review is due in May, the annual review in June could be crucial. A near-term positive that Pakistan can hope for is an upgrade of UAE and Qatar to Emerging Markets as it will lead to 130-basis-point weightage gains,” says KASB Securities in a research note.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2012.
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