Stocks plunge 392 points on political instability

Stocks dipped on Thursday as political instability pushed down the benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange to an intraday low of 422.02 points. Arif Habib Ltd said the KSE-100 index opened in the green, but the momentum dissipated quickly owing to rising political temperature amid the expected arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan. Investors’ participation remained varied, with third-tier equities leading the volume board. Topline Securities said investors opted to remain on the sidelines in the absence of any positive trigger. Profit-taking also took place in blue-chip stocks, which had seen a rally during the last few days. As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,442.08 points, down 391.58 points or 0.94 per cent from the preceding session. The overall trading volume decreased 19.3pc to 101.3 million shares. The traded value went down 15.7pc to $10.5m on a day-on-day basis.