The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has put in place systems such as 'Market Surveillance System', 'Universal Identification System' and 'Client Code' to identify market manipulators and initiate action against them.
The SECP Chairman Razi-ur-Rahman Khan stated this while talking to a private TV channel on Wednesday. He said that SECP and KSE introduced market stabilisation measures to stop the possibility of systemic risk and panic selling. "Important political developments that took place in the start of this week could have pushed the market towards further instability. After marathon discussion with KSE, SECP introduced significant measures that have resulted in recovering the market."
Replying to a question, Razi-ur-Rahman Khan said that the recent increase in banks' lending and margin, volatile situation in the regional markets and the political instability in the country were some of the reasons for a declining trend in the market. He rejected the impression that SECP had set the market direction by taking measures. "The basic purpose of the proactive steps was to avoid systemic risk and provide a cooling period to investors so that they can sit and plan their investments."
Commenting on the implementation of 'Market Surveillance System,' Razi said the system is operational and market manipulators will be exposed in future. About new listings, he said that SECP has provided an enabling environment to encourage new listings. A book building process recently introduced by SECP is a significant step towards encouraging new listings in the stock market.-PR