The Taliban is warning foreign investors to leave Pakistan as clashes between the government and militant fighters escalate. While there are no Pakistan country-specific exchange traded funds, some ETF investors need to be aware of their exposure.
“We’re in a state of war,” Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, said, according to Bloomberg. “Foreign investors, airlines, and multinational companies should cut off business with Pakistan immediately and leave the country or else they will be responsible for their damage themselves.”
The Pakistani army is moving on Taliban forces in North Waziristan near the Afghan border after militants attacked Karachi’s international airport last week.
Pakistan’s benchmark KSE Index dipped 0.3% Monday, trading around 29,651. The benchmark strengthened last week and was only slightly weighed down by sentiment due to the Karachi airport attack.
“After the MQM ended protests, healthy foreign buying, the successful government offering of the UBL, and World Bank loan for the Dasu Dam construction triggered the share market to gain 0.75 per cent on WoW basis,” Samar Iqbal, AVP at Topline Securities, said in a Business Recorder article. “However, sentiments were affected due to the Karachi airport attack.”
There are currently two ETFs with significant exposure to Pakistan’s markets. The EGShares EM Dividend High Income ETF (NYSEArca: EMHD), which tracks an equally weighted index of emerging market dividend stocks, has an 8% weight toward Pakistan. EMHD is up 5% year-to-date.
Additionally, the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 ETF (NYSEArca: FM), which follows frontier or pre-emerging markets, includes a 5.2% allocation toward Pakistan. MSCI (NYSE: MSCI) has stated that it will boost Pakistan’s weight in its MSCI Frontier Market 100 Index to 8.9% after the index provider promotes the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to emerging market status. [Pakistan’s Weight in This ETF Set to Soar]
For more information on Pakistan, visit our Pakistan category.