amid coronavirus outbreak
NEW YORK: Pakistan has surprisingly risen to become Asia’s best-performing stock market and the fourth-best performer in the world, defying the odds amid the coronavirus outbreak. Benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), KSE-100, is up nearly six percent from the beginning of August. The market has also enjoyed double-digit returns, rising nearly 50 percent after a steep fall in March and up over 41 percent year-on-year. Pakistan equities are far better than those trading on other bourses in Asia. While just a few Chinese indices have surpassed KSE-100 performance on an annual basis, they are still behind this month. The rally comes as the nation’s central bank has been among the most aggressive globally in cutting interest rates this year, as policymakers attempted to shield the economy from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. In June, the central bank cut benchmark rates by 100 basis points to seven percent. It has become the fifth rate cut since the pandemic hit, with the total reduction amounting to 625 basis points. “Pakistan’s stock market has become the best performer in Asia and the fourth-best-performing stock market in the world,” analysts from MarketCurrents WealthNet consultancy said in a report earlier this week, adding that it has even outperformed the S&P 500 this year.
