KARACHI: As Pakistan’s economy steadies, stock investors are increasingly gravitating toward Shariah-compliant equities, with Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) data showing these counters outperforming conventional stocks since early October and now accounting for more than half of the daily trading value.
Investors on Friday traded Rs35 billion ($125 million) worth of shares, of which Rs23 billion ($80 million) came from Shariah-compliant counters.
“Around 65 percent of today’s equity value traded was in Shariah compliant stocks,” PSX said in a statement.
Pakistan’s market has been on a strong upward run, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index climbing 41 percent to 161,935 points since January.
The Karachi Meezan Index (KMI-30), launched in 2008 to track Shariah-compliant equities, has risen 30 percent so far this year and gained another 0.8 percent on Friday to close at 231,590 points.
