Mumbai, March 18 (IANS) In the past two months, while the benchmark Indian indices have gained over 1,500 points and are inching close to fresh highs, Pakistan’s Karachi stock exchange, smaller in size, has shed over 1,000 points.
While the India markets have gained over the strong inflow of foreign funds, favourable interest scenario and an expectation of a stable government at the Centre after the elections, the Karachi Stock Exchange has been under pressure since the geopolitical tensions erupted over the Pulwama suicide attack on February 14.
However, analysts said that much of the movement depends on the present stage of the market cycle, investor sentiments, valuation and macro data.
Both the countries saw panic reaction in their markets following reports that Pakistani jets violated the Indian air space last month. But Indian markets recovered swiftly to recoup the losses.
BSE Sensex and the benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange — KSE 100 index — witnessed a steep fall. While the Sensex slipped up to 0.66 per cent, the KSE 100 index fell close to 4 per cent, its biggest fall since July 2017.
Experts say that 576 companies are listed on the Karachi exchange and its market cap is a mere $87 billion while, with 5,439 companies listed on the BSE, the market cap of the companies is $2.1 trillion.
–IANS
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