The KSE-100 index is doddering at the 32-month high of 46,000 points. Yet optimists, mainly brokerage houses, have projected the benchmark will settle between 52,400 and 60,000 points by the end of December.
If that seems too high, one ought to have heard former finance minister Dr Salman Shah tell a TV show host that it should not take much of strength for the index to reach 80,000 points by the end of the year provided there were no external shocks or mishaps.
He based his assertion on the premise that major economic and pandemic-related challenges had been handled well. “We have a good relationship with all economic blocs. Normal access to the United States without discrimination, GSP-Plus status in the European Union and a free-trade agreement with China,” the former finance minister said.