Following a bruising first quarter, the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) index has picked up over the last few days after Acleda Bank Plc’s (ABC’s) initial public offering (IPO).
At Thursday’s close, the index ended 7.25 per cent higher at 793.59 points. Trading volume reached 280,791 shares worth 5,161,361,850 riel ($1.25 million).
CSX vice-chairman Ha Jong-weon noted that the figure was one of the stock market’s highest. ABC accounted for 95.6 per cent of shares traded on Thursday, worth a whopping 4,936,668,200 riel.
He said ABC attracted so much public attention that transactions were executed nearly every minute.
“For the first few days after the ABC listing, there was a huge shift in our market. We have seen an increasing number of orders enter the market, especially for ABC stock.
“The price of ABC has surged dramatically since the first trading day. It went up 33 per cent compared to the IPO price. The demand for ABC remains high, with the buy quantities far exceeding sell quantities,” said Ha.
Public engagement in the stock market via social media interaction and general inquiries have been on the rise, he said. ABC has been the leading contributor to market capitalisation over the last few days.
“ABC has contributed nearly $1.8 billion to CSX market capitalisation, making it the largest listed company by market cap. We expect to see more and more trades enter the market.
“As I have always mentioned, financial institutions are considered the most suitable candidates to go public and gain the benefits from securities market. With this new momentum, we strongly believe that it will attract more potential companies to consider listing on our exchange,” said Ha.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia’s (SECC) latest Securities Trading Statistical Bulletin noted that the CSX index sank 22.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year to 590.63 points from 761.73 points at the end of last year.
