ISLAMABAD: As the stock market breached the 50,000 mark during intraday trade on Tuesday, Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Zafar Hijazi warned investors not to enter the ‘rat race’ following the advice of manipulators.

Talking to the media at his office, Mr Hijazi said that as regulator, the SECP is not excited to see the market touch 50,000 points and has concerned about investors’ protection.

“Usually people rush towards the market with investments after any such mark is achieved but this leads to failure as they end up with wrong people,” the chairman said.

He said there was no chance of any market crash as SECP’s Systematic Risk Department is active in market surveillance and monitoring.

However, some individuals could face losses due to misguidance, he added.

The SECP has also issued a set of guidelines for individual investors, urging them not to trust brokers blindly and trade through their own CDC account. The SECP also urged investors to follow the record of their investments and go for registered brokers only.

“There is an emerging trend that some people follow the advice on social media but this could be misleading. After losing money, they all start blaming the SECP for failing to recover their investment,” Mr Hijazi said.

However, he added, the market surge was not a bubble.

“It is the result of our efforts for the last two years that Mutual Funds are strong and stable to support market growth,” he said, “Previously, foreign buyers used to guide the market but now, despite a selling spree, the market is growing,”.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2017