Assessing the Impact of COVID19 Pandemic on the Stocks and Commodity Market Performance and Sustainability. An Empirical Evidence from Pakistani Context

Abstract

This research is aiming at studying the effect of COVID-19 outbreak on Pakistan's stock and commodity markets. This study has involved the use of secondary data regarding the daily closing prices of the Pakistan Stock Exchange index (PSX) and closing prices of gold and oil from the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) of Pakistan. The reason for assessing these commodities is that they are highly volatile as compared to other factors. However, results of this study indicated that COVID-19 pandemic has got significant and negative effect on Oil prices and the stock market performance as well. On the other hand, the study also found that there is a noticeable impact of COVID-19 on gold prices. The overall outcome of this study show that the occurrence of COVID-19 caused the stock market to drop temporarily but then it began to stabilize gradually. In addition, the findings of this research can aid speculators to forecast the future of the stock and commodity markets in the face of the epidemic.