KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) — a benchmark for market performance — proved to be a lost battleground in 2021.
The benchmark index, which began the year with 44,434.80 points was trading at 44,596.07 by Friday (the last day of the calendar year).
With a slight increase of 0.40% on the last day of the year, the PSX benchmark KSE-100 index improved by a net 1.9% during the year and closed at 44,596.07 points today. However, the market had fared extremely well in the prior two years — in 2019 and 2020.
A deterioration in macroeconomic indicators, which worsened due to uncertainty about the economic policy of the new government, confusion on whether Pakistan was going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and lack of clarity on how the government plans to fix the beleaguered economy, weighed on the market.
