The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday plunged to a 26-month low level after the benchmark KSE-100 index shed nearly 500 points as investors adopted a dump-and-run approach due to rising political tension in the country.
The benchmark KSE-100 index underwent selling pressure from the time trading kicked off, dipping to a low of 39,276.70 points with volumes remaining on the lower side.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index fell by 489.56 points, or 1.23%, to settle at 39,342.89 — this is the lowest level after November 2, 2020.
The index has been under immense pressure since the last week when former prime minister Imran Khan announced that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will dissolve Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on December 23, which was widely seen as a negative for stock market investors.
Subsequent heavy net selling by foreign investors, coupled with the constant depreciation of the rupee and delay in the International Monstery Fund programme, has led to panic selling with the index shedding close to 5% in the last three sessions.
The benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a lacklustre session as investor participation remained low due to ongoing political unrest, with the index shedding 555.75 points during intra-day in the main board. However, decent volumes were recorded in the third-tier stocks.
