KARACHI: For 23‑year‑old Isra Ghous Rasool, the Pakistan Stock Exchange offers not only the prospect of profits but also an escape from the conventional nine‑to‑five grind.
Rasool actively trades stocks and benchmarks them against assets such as gold, cryptocurrencies, and foreign exchange.
She is far from alone; many young Pakistanis are turning to equity markets.
According to PSX data, 180,148 retail investors joined the exchange between August and May of the last fiscal year. Investors aged 18‑30 accounted for more than 41 % of these new registrations, amounting to 74,629 individuals.
In 2023 Pakistan neared sovereign default and inflation peaked at a record 38 %. Since then, economic indicators have improved and the stock market has participated in the recovery. The benchmark index rose 1.1 % to 179,571.27 points on Wednesday, pushing its year‑to‑date gain to 43 % (53,944 points).
“Honestly, the only reason I’m here is that I can make money from home instead of a classic nine‑to‑five job,” Rasool told Arab News.
The PSX has already paid her dividends, and she has expanded her portfolio sixfold to Rs 100,000 (≈ $360) this year.
When asked whether she views equities as wealth creation or a hedge against inflation, Rasool said investing in stocks is “a good opportunity” for young people without a stable income.
Abdul Qadir, a 23‑year‑old BBA student specializing in finance, says he has grown his portfolio by 800 % to Rs 450,000 (≈ $1,620) in about a year.
He began with Rs 50,000 (≈ $180) by buying shares of Al Shaheer Corporation, a meat‑packing firm, and gradually added more positions as the stock attracted him.
Qadir now invests in the oil, banking and automobile sectors and runs a small mutual fund that manages assets roughly equal to his own portfolio.
He charges a brokerage fee to the investors he manages, delivering an average return of 8 %, well below the 66 % dollar‑denominated annualised return the KSE‑100 index has posted over the past three years.
‘A Real Multiplier’
Aamir Mushtaq Kanju, PSX deputy general manager for lead product management and research, says the market has become a powerful wealth multiplier this year.
“The market has delivered an annualised return of about 66 % in dollar terms over the last three years, the highest in the region,” Kanju explained.
He attributes most of the upside to macro‑economic stability achieved through a $37 billion IMF loan program.
Kanju notes that Gen Z accounts for a “significant” share of new Unique Identification Number (UIN) account openings, with average monthly openings tripling to 15,000 this year.
“Gen Z makes up roughly 40 % of all new accounts,” he said.
Nevertheless, PSX data shows that total investors represent less than 0.2 % of Pakistan’s population, compared with 6 % in India and 1‑2 % in Bangladesh.
“In partnership with the SECP, our goal for the next two years is to reach 2.5 million UINs from the current 563,000, about 1 % of the population,” Kanju added.
Equity analyst Jibran Sarfaraz of Munir Khanani Securities says investing will be a “learning process” for Gen Z, teaching them how listed companies operate and how profit‑and‑loss statements work.
Qadir aims to expand his portfolio to Rs 10 million (≈ $35,971). Rasool is determined to stay invested, believing that giants like Rothschild and Goldman Sachs built their fortunes the same way.
She adds that a traditional nine‑to‑five job cannot fund her ambitions in today’s economy.
“We need something that multiplies,” she said.
