The listed companies at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) paid the highest ever dividends of Rs. 499.84 billion in the calendar year 2021 (CY21), a staggering 87 percent higher than the CY20 figure of Rs. 267.608 billion.

Finance Ministry spokesperson, Muzzammil Aslam, took to Twitter to announce the figures, also shared a sector-wise breakdown of the cash dividends.

The dividend payouts by commercial banks were the highest and stood at Rs. 139,173 million. They were followed by Oil & Gas exploration companies at Rs. 71,127 million.

However, according to a report released by brokerage house Topline Securities, Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index underperformed in the regional market posting a -8 percent return in dollar terms compared to regional players like Sri Lanka, India, and China.

All other asset classes (Crypto, Real Estate, and Roshan Digital), performed much better than the equity markets. Cryptocurrency, which is not officially recognized by Pakistan, remained the best performing asset class in Pakistan in 2021, posting a return of 79 recent in PKR terms. This was followed by property and Roshan Digital Dollar Certificate which posted returns of 23 percent and 18 percent respectively in PKR terms.

The year saw record volumes as average traded volume (ready/cash) at PSX was up 44 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 474 million shares/day. Similarly, the average traded value at PSX was up 38 percent to Rs.17 billion/day which was the highest since 2007.

According to the report, Technology and Textile Spinning were the top-performing sectors in 2021 posting returns of 40 percent YoY and 37 percent YoY, respectively. Tobacco and transport sectors remained the worst performing sectors posting a decline of 31 percent YoY and 27 percent YoY, respectively.

Source: Pro Pakistani