FEAS Yearbook FEAS Yearbook 2014 | Page 58

FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES ANNUAL REPORT JUNE 2013 KARACHI STOCK EXCHANGE Exchange) for both trading and market data. The National Clearing & Settlement Company and Central Depository System has also been introduced. Transparency of the listed companies has been enhanced with the introduction of quality audits, quarterly financial reports and timely dividend payouts. Corporate governance is also now the part of the KSE’s listing regulation. FUTURE OUTLOOK 2014 Introduction of New Products and New Measures: KSE plans to introduce new products into the market, to further cater to the growing needs of its investors and help develop Pakistan’s capital markets. KSE will be introducing: Trading in Government Securities which includes Treasury Bills, Pakistan Investment Bonds and Ijara Sukkuk, Exchange Traded Funds, new derivative products- options, etc, and Introduction of SME board CAPITAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK The year 2013 was mixed for the economy of Pakistan. Positive indicators included sharp appreciation in real estate and capital markets, increase in worker remittances, rise in industrial activity and Government’s commitment to the program of IMF. Business sentiments also showed positive signs with increase in private sector credit off-take. However, challenges of energy shortage, law and order, rising inflation, lower tax to GDP ratio continue to be major obstacles to sustainable growth. Overall commitment and fiscal restructuring is needed to keep economy on the track. Growth in manufacturing sector is 4.4% which is highest n last five years. Large scale Manufacturing posted a healthy growth of 5.7% during July - December 2013 with major improvements shown by fertilizer, petroleum, paper and leather sectors. for the Exports of the country have also grown by 3.5% in FY 2013 as compared to decline of 4.4%. Granting of GSP plus status to Pakistan by European Union has shown positive growth in textile exports and will Pakistani products to compete with other countries that have similar concessions. It is forecasted that the exports will be increased by 6% in year 2014. The real GDP growth in the outgoing FY 2013 was recorded at 3.6% and between 3-4% has been forecasted for the FY 2014. Pakistan’s economy has strong capacity to overcome the challenges originated from internal and external economic environment while struggling towards achieving long term sustainable growth. Government has also decided to privatize the public entities and determination to cut in subsidies to reduce the fiscal deficit. Performance of the Market A total of, 560 companies were listed at Karachi Stock Exchange with the listed capital of Rs. 1,130 billion (US $ 11 billion) with the market capitalization of Rs. 6,056 billion (US $ 57 Key Information Contacts Government of Pakistan www.pak.gov.pk Ministry of Finance www.finance.gov.pk Privatization Commission www.privatisation.gov.pk State Bank of Pakistan www.sbp.org.pk Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan www.secp.gov.pk CONTACT INFORMATION Contact Name Mr. Haroon Askari PAGE 58 E-mail [email protected] Website www.kse.com.pk billion) as at December 31, 2013. KSE 100 Index opened at 16905 points on January 1, 2013 and closed at 25261 points, showing a gain of around 50% over this period. The benchmark index touched historical high of 25579 points on December 20, 2013. The average daily traded volume in the Ready market for the Jan - Dec 2013 was 238 Million shares against 197 million shares during the same period last year. In order to broaden the investor base, Trading in Government Securities will also be started at Karachi Stock Exchange from January 2014. Investors will now have greater access and opportunity to channelize their savings with government papers, which would increase the debt of the secondary market and pave the way for utilizing stock exchanges as a medium for direct government borrowing from general public. KSE launched numerous focused campaigns to generate large scale awareness amongst individual savers regarding the role of capital market in the overall context for their long term financial planning. In this regard, more than 20 programs have been conducted in collaboration with other market participants