Abstract:

The present study has analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on the stock market. The study was intended in the context of Pakistan Stock Exchange. The paper attempted on the basis of two major objective i.e. analyzed direct impact of COVID-19 on the stock market and the COVID-19 impact on foreign markets spillover effects on Pakistan Stock Exchange. The paper has adopted conventional t-test and Mann Whitney test on the average return on the basis of stock market indexes. The results have been estimated on two basis i.e. domestic & foreign timeline. Three event windows were selected for the estimation of average return i.e. pre-event window (starting time of COVID-19), short-event window (increasing time of COVID-19 cases) and long-event window (Peak time of COVID-19). The time period has been taken from January 1st to 30th December 2020. The stock markets of Pakistan, India, Canada, Japan, UK, & United States were included in the study. The findings show (1) COVID-19 has negative but limited impact on the stock market; (2) there is an evidence of spillover effect of COVID-19 on Europe and US markets on Pakistan Stock Exchange. The findings contribute towards the economic and financial impact of COVID-19 in the context of stock market. The proof has been received that the Europe and US markets have impact on the Asian Stock Markets.

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