Pakistan stock exchange continues to feel effects of India-Pak conflict

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday continued to feel the effects of the ongoing conflict in the region with equity investors said to have suffered 820 billion rupees in losses in the last three days.

The market opened, like the last three days, to conflicting sentiments but by close, had recovered more than 700 points.

The benchmark KSE-100 index climbed 799.65, or 0.77 per cent, to stand at 1,04,326.46 from the previous close of 1,03,526.81 at 11:06 am.

The volatility had increased following the military confrontation between India and Pakistan triggered by the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that had cross border linkages.

Yousuf M Farooq, director research at Chase Securities said such short-term volatility and corrections are a normal feature of equity markets.

"We are advising our clients that only long-term investors participate in the market, maintaining discipline during periods of uncertainty and gradually building their portfolios over time," he said.

Sana Tawfik, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, said that having suffered its largest plunge by 6.5 points in the last two days investors had shown some resilience on Friday, even with fears of increased drone attacks across the country.

"The stocks showed some recovery today and were up two per cent in the first 30 minutes of trading," she said.

She said no major development of escalation by afternoon had calmed the market.

Other financial analysts said that some investors, after assuming that the conflict wouldn't break out into a full scale war, have started accumulating stocks trading at highly attractive valuations following the sharp drawdown over the past week.

Early on Wednesday, Indian armed forces conducted precision strikes under Operation Sindoor in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), targeting terror launchpads.

The strikes were in response to the attack by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam killing 26 people on April 22. Pakistan resorted to indiscriminate firing in the border areas killing 13 Indians and injuring several others.

On Thursday, Pakistan increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using mortars and heavy calibre artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 16 people.