Pakistan Stock Exchange crashes after arrest of opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif
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KARACHI – Pakistan stock exchange recorded hefty decline and reached to almost nine month low mark with red signs dominated the proceedings where index plunged by 2.1 percent with political temperature to rise after NAB’s move to arrest former chief minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif.
Hamad Aslam, director research of Elixir Securities said that onslaught in the market continued as investors remained gloomy due to lack of clarity from the government on how it plans to tackle the Balance of Payment crisis.
Harsh statements from IMF on the requirements to significantly depreciate Pak Rupee and increase interest rates also dented sentiments for investors who eagerly await announcement of Pakistan’s entry into the IMF Program.
During the second half of the day, ex- Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) added fuel to the fire.
Resultantly, the market closed down at 39,226 (lowest level since December 21, 2017), registering a decline of 2.1 percent for the day –biggest since July 9, 2018.
