Foreign investment in equity markets continues to provide solace: SCRA Position

May 16, 2019 (MLN): Foreign investment in local equity markets these past few days has drawn a parallel to the overall domestic participation, as it continues to pick a path alternate to the domestic investors’.

During last week when the domestic stock traders were incessantly failing to put out fire on trading floors set by bearish sentiments, the foreign investors continued to indulge in net buying via Specially Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRA).

According to the weekly report on SCRA released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the gross sale of securities during the week was recorded at Rs.5.7 billion, which is around 47.1 percent higher than the figures recorded last week. Similarly, the total purchase of securities stood at Rs.7.8 billion, which is 75.7 percent higher than the prior week.

Consequently, the net purchase of securities for the week ended May 10, 2019 clocked in at Rs.2.12 billion, i.e. around Rs.1.55 billion higher than last week's numbers.

While this marks the overseas investors’ third consecutive week in buying zone, it is also the first time in last 13 weeks when the value of net purchase of securities has gone above Rs.2 billion.

Over the week, the overall purchase of securities rose by Rs.3.38 billion while the net sale of securities increased by Rs.1.83 billion.

Apart from this, the inflow of remittance into these accounts stood at Rs.3.51 billion, while its outflow has been reported at Rs.2.18 billion.

The closing balance of SCRA was recorded at Rs.27.84 billion, which marks a decline of Rs.691 million over the week.

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