LAHORE: The Pakistani stock markets are generating profits more than any other stock market of the world, thus providing attractive environment for the investors from around the globe.
Lahore Stock Exchange Managing Director Aftab Ahmad Chaudhry has expressed these views while speaking at a reception hosted in honour of the Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA) hereon.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has made buying and selling of shares very transparent, abolishing sale and purchase of fake shares, short selling and in-house badla system, he said.
The Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) has started various programs for protection of the investors and promoting investment in the stocks. At present 431 companies are registered with the LSE while 8 IPOs were arranged during 2014-15 which benefitted small investors a lot. He claimed that the stock market of Pakistan gave returns to its investors more than any other regional stock market. Activity was seen in cement, automobile, electronics, foods and various other sectors.
Replying to a query, Aftab Ahmad Chaudhry said that Moody’s International Credit Rating Agency had improved the credit rating of Pakistan because of the economic policies of the sitting government which enhanced the confidence of the international financial institutions on Pakistan which also improved the stock markets. He said index of Karachi Stock Exchange has crossed 35,000 points while one year back it was around 32,000.
He said that inflation was lowest in Pakistan as compared to its neighbors, foreign exchange reserves and crossed the US 17 billion dollars mark, foreign payments had improved while foreign investment was also increasing. He said that the Pak-China Economic Corridor would also bring foreign investment in Pakistan which would strengthen the local industries and economy thus leading more improved performance in the stock markets.
LSE Managing Director called upon the companies to sell their share through the stock exchange as it was performing better than the banks. He said that Karachi Stock market was the leading performer in the emerging markets and future is brighter. He urged the investors to thoroughly check the brokers’ details before opening their account and invest on solid grounds instead of rumours.
Quoting Jim O’Neill, he said the Pakistan GDP is expected to increase from US $375 billion to $500 billion by 2020 whereas Pakistan can become world’s 18th largest economy by 2050 with a GDP of US$ 3.33 trillion as Pakistan economy would grow 15 times in the next 35 years.
About the market statistics, Aftab Chaudhry said the market capitalization stood at Rs 7696.67 billion on July 30, 2015. About the top performers, he said the software computer services posted the highest cumulative stock return at 250 percent in 2014-15 against only 2 percent in 2013-14 followed by automobiles 93 percent, electricity 63 percent, life insurance 62 percent, media 48 percent and cement 45 percent. He further said that net foreign portfolio investment stood at US $47 million in 2014-15 against a meager $1 million in last financial year while Pakistani equities have delivered 26 percent a year to US dollar investors since 200
