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Q.In the ‘Primary Market’ prices of securities are determined by : (A) Management of the company (B) Demand and supply of the security (C) Employees of the company (D) Only demand for the security

CBSECBSE Class XII Board 2026MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★
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In the primary market the issue price of a new security is fixed and decided by the management of the company (with its merchant bankers), not by demand and supply. Demand and supply determine prices only in the secondary market. The correct answer is (A).

When a company needs long-term funds, it can issue fresh securities — shares or debentures — to the public for the first time. The marketplace for such first-time issues is the primary market (also called the new issues market). A common point of confusion in CBSE Class 12 Business Studies is who decides the price at which these new securities are offered.

How pricing works in the primary market

In the primary market, the company raising the funds decides the price of its securities. The management, usually assisted by merchant bankers or lead managers, studies the company's financial position, its prospects and market sentiment, and then fixes the issue price (for example, the face value plus any premium). The investor either accepts that fixed price and applies, or does not — the investor cannot bid the price up or down the way buyers and sellers do on a stock exchange. In short, the price is determined by the company's management, not discovered through continuous trading.

How this differs from the secondary market

The secondary market (the stock exchange) is where securities that have already been issued are bought and sold among investors. Here no single company fixes the price; the price of a security changes continuously with the demand and supply of that security — more buyers than sellers push the price up, and vice versa. That is the market where demand and supply genuinely govern price.

Evaluating the options: …

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