Pak stock market slumps for third straight session as investors seek political clarity

Karachi : The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued to slide for the third consecutive session on Tuesday since the February 8 general elections, as lack of political clarity post polls saw the benchmark KSE-100 index shed close to 1,400 points, a media report said.

The KSE-100 index stood at 59,674.31, losing 1,391 points, or 2.28 per cent, during intra-day trading, compared to the previous close of 61,065 points. The index, in the last three sessions, is down by 4,017 points or 6.2 per cent, Geo News reported.

Samiullah Tariq, the head of research at Pak-Kuwait Investment Company, said that the loss was due to the "uncertainty regarding the formation of the government".

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, also backed the argument that the decline was due to the "unexpected" election results, which deviated from pre-poll expectations.

Alpha Beta Core's Khurram Schehzad said that investor confidence has been dampened by the election results and would continue to slide till a concrete decision is taken by the winning political parties with clarity on the economic team with a plan and direction towards addressing the key economic challenges, Geo News reported.

After a delay of close to six months, Pakistanis went to polls on February 8, but the scenario that has emerged has led to confusion, rather than showing political clarity.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Independent candidates managed to get the highest number of seats, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) came in second and third, respectively, Geo News reported.