Developments under Special Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRAs) in the last few days witnessed movements in an opposite direction among at least two major investors, namely, the USA and the UK. While the UK continued disinvesting, the USA continued strengthening its balances.
Through January 24, the USA brought in net investment of over $91 million, while the UK withdrew some $41 million during the same period, including about $15 million in last two days. Accordingly, while USA''s cumulative inflow during the year so far surged to $214.4 million, that of the UK shrank to a mere $19 million after touching a high of $109.3 million on November 6.
Among other major investors, Hong Kong brought in $16 million during January so far, while Singapore has had an incremental investment of $2.7 million during the same period. All in all, cumulative investments of all countries stood depressed to $346.8 million on January 24 from $359.7 million of January 22, despite major positive movements in USA and Hong Kong balances.
In the meanwhile, the usually representative KSE-100 Index, at 10,857 points, reached another height on the stocks front on January 24 only to break the psychological barrier of 11,000 points on January 25. Surging by over 174 points, the Index closed the day having reached 11,031 points, mainly on the back of heavy buying in energy and banking sectors.
(Report by research.dept@aaj.tv).