Pakistan Stock Exchange becomes functional
A grand launch ceremony has been arranged in Islamabad today.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Pakistan Stock Exchange has formally started functioning in Karachi after merger of the stock exchanges of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar inaugurated the Pakistan Stock Exchange at a ceremony in Islamabad on Monday. The index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange is PSX .
The board with new name was erected on the building on Saturday.
High-ranking government officials, honorable foreign dignitaries along with international fund managers and high net worth individuals were invited to attend the inauguration ceremony to celebrate this momentous occasion.
The integration of three exchanges has completed the second phase of the Stock Exchanges Demutualisation and Integration Act 2012, passed by a joint session of parliament.
The merger of the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad Stock Exchanges into the PSX could pave the way for more foreign investor interest, observers said.
"The merger will help in selling the exchange to a strategic buyer as part of the demutualisation plan," said Mohammad Sohail, chief of Topline Securities, a Karachi-based investment house.
Under the plan the PSX would become a listed company on the exchange with 40 percent of its shares offered to foreign buyers - 20 percent in an initial public offering (IPO) and the remaining 40 percent allocated to listed brokers.
Foreign investors can already trade on the existing exchanges, but the new bourse would be better organised with greater international links, observers said.
"The new buyer would be likely to introduce new derivatives and would facilitate new listings, providing much needed depth and breadth in the market," Sohail said.
The KSE was set up in 1947 with only five listed companies and a market capitalisation of just 37 million rupees ($37 million according to exchange rates at the time). It now has 572 companies listed with the total value of 6,958 billion rupees ($66 billion).
