Daily Times

The marketing capitalization of the KSE-100 index increased by 27pc in the fiscal year 2020-21 from Rs6,529.7b on June 30, 2020 to Rs8,297.3b on June 30, 2021. The KSE-100 index began the year at 34,421.92 points and ended at 47,356.02 points on June 30, 2021, i.e., an increase of 38pc since the beginning of the year, according to annual report issued by the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

During the year, KSE-100 Index touched its lowest level of 34,889 on July 01, 2020 and highest level of 48,726.08 on June 14, 2021. Average daily turnover in ready and future markets was 527.45m shares and 141.26m shares, respectively, which are 169pc and 78pc greater than the previous year. On May 27, 2021, stock market hit all-time high volume of 2.22b shares traded in a single day. Foreign investment in the stock market exhibited net outflow of $387.34m during FY 2020-2021, which is 36pc higher than net outflows of $284.83m observed in FY 2019-2020, the report added. During the period July 01, 2020 to June 30, 2021, various commodities futures contracts including gold, crude oil and US equity indices, worth Rs2.841 trillion were traded at PMEX. Previously, for the period of 2019-2020, various commodities futures contracts worth Rs2.254 trillion were traded. Licensing of entities with regards to licensing of entities for carrying out regulated securities activities, following number of entities had active licenses. Primary capital markets offer immense potential for business growth and development by providing opportunities to raise capital, both in the form of equity and debt, at competitive prices.

In the Asian market, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) have increased due to the substantial growth opportunities. Since Pakistan is an emerging economy, huge potential exists for companies to go public. In keeping with its role of capital market regulator, SECP is striving to implement reforms that encourage companies to enlist on the stock market. During FY-2020-21, Pakistani market witnessed 10 IPOs i.e., eight (08) equity and two (02) debt issues. All these IPOs were oversubscribed, showing investor confidence in the capital market. The surge in IPOs can be directly attributed to various reforms introduced by SECP in the recent past, including amendments in Public Offering Regulations, 2017, Structuring of Debt Securities Regulations, 2020 and in PSX Regulations, whereby the process of public offering has been streamlined. The IPO activity have shown tremendous improvement after a long spell. Highest number of companies have been listed compared to last 5 years, whereas funds raised is the highest during a decade. During the FY 2020-21, eight (08) companies raised Rs20.2b as compared to no listings during the FY 2019-20. Out of these eight companies, seven are newly listed companies, whereas one already listed company namely Engro Polymer & Chemical Limited, offered its preference shares to the general public.

All the issues were oversubscribed, while Pakistan Aluminium Beverage Cans Ltd was the largest, raising an amount of Rs4.60b. During the year, two (02) issue of listed redeemable capital were offered to the public and pre-IPO investors as compared to one issue (01) during the last year. Out of these two issues, one was Rs25b Sukuk Issue by K-Electric Ltd. and the other was Rs11b TFCs (Series-A) by Bank Alfalah Ltd. The TFC (Series-A) issue by Bank Alfalah Ltd., has been offered under shelf registration over a period of 3-years, out of total allowed limit of Rs50b.