KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) managed to break the bearish spell both on a daily and weekly basis as the investors seem to regain confidence. This was seen in terms of active prices and easing of the pandemic induced anxiety in investors that had impacted the market with record high COVID-19 fatality rates last week.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index gained 1,098.47 points, advancing to 45,174.67 points at the end of the trading week on Thursday from 44,076.20 points at the start on Monday.
“Prices after a week-long fall were at very attractive levels and the investors were ready to grasp such opportunity,” Khurram Schezad, CEO Alpha Beta Core, said in a phone interview from Karachi. However, the situation at the COVID front is still not clear and before making any investment move caution is advisable especially for the investors with low and medium holding capacity, he added. But currently, it seems the market gained some confidence as the daily infection rates and fatalities shown some ease during the ended week.
The positivity rate was hovering around double-digit figures at the end of the week earlier at 9.63 per cent, whereas the number of critical patients stands at 5,490. Today Pakistan reports 120 COVID-19 deaths, over 4,900 patients remain critical while the positivity rate was reported at 8.54 per cent.
On Thursday, Dr Faisal Sultan, PM’s aide on health, urged people to follow SOPs during Eid, calling it a “very risky period ahead”.
“We are today in the midst of the third wave of the pandemic and while there may be initial signs of some stability in the third wave, these are very early days and this is a very risky period for us with Ramzan is going to end and Eid being just around the corner,” he had said.
