KARACHI: The amount of fresh capital raised on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in 2022 dropped to a nine-year low, a research report compiled by brokerage house Topline Securities Ltd showed on Thursday.

The lack of interest among companies in raising funds through the stock market was because of “political and economic instability,” it said.

Companies raised Rs1.3 billion in three initial public offerings (IPOs) in the outgoing year. This was in sharp contrast to 2021 in which companies raised fresh capital of Rs20bn in as many as eight offerings.

The number of IPOs in 2022 was the lowest since 2019 when only one company went public.

The poor showing in terms of new listings was in line with the overall stock market performance in the outgoing year. The benchmark index, which reflects the cumulative performance of top 100 shares on the bourse, has dropped around 11 per cent since the beginning of 2022.

In dollar terms, market capitalisation or the collective value of the same 100 firms has shrunk by about 30pc over the same period.

The volume of shares traded on a daily basis slipped 52pc from the preceding year to 231 million. The annual decline in terms of the average value of shares traded every day has been 60pc to Rs7bn.

Adamjee Life Assurance Company Ltd and Global Residency REIT raised Rs700m and Rs140m, respectively, on the PSX’s mainboard.

Supernet Ltd generated Rs475m on the sideboard through big-ticket investors only.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2022