November 4, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 8, 1424

KARACHI, Nov 3: The State Bank of Pakistan has appreciated the performance of the local capital market and termed the year-end achievements “stunning”.

Pakistan’s equity market was one of the best performing equity markets in the world during FY03. The benchmark KSE-100 Index broke its previous all-time high to reach 3,402.5 points by the close of FY03, up a stunning 92.2 per cent, says the SBP annual report released here on Monday.

The market capitalization of the listed stocks rose by an impressive 83 per cent. As a result, the market capitalization as a percentage of GDP rose for a second successive year, from 11.2 per cent by end-June 2002 to 18.6 per cent by end-June 2003.

The strength of the market rally, which extended through practically all of FY03, is visible in the substantial increase in both, the average daily traded volume and the turnover ratio. The former rose 75 per cent year-to-year to 214 million shares in FY03, while the increase in the latter was a relatively more sedate 52 per cent.—APP