Stocks extend losses on political uncertainty

The stock market on Tuesday continued witnessing depressed trading on persisting political uncertainty amid calls from the US and UK ambassadors for fair polls as a result the benchmark KSE 100-share index closed the session on a negative note. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation told Dawn that the growing politi­cal uncertainty reg­ar­ding the holding of general elections on Feb 8 and the downturn in global markets were the key factors that fuelled gloomy conditions on the PSX. He added that the equity market outlook would remain uncertain till the date of the poll because the Western countries stressed inclusive elections and the IMF talks would be impacted by it. Topline Securities Ltd said the index swung in the range of 908 points. It reached an intraday high of 64,786 (gaining 549.33 points) and a low of 63,878 ( 358.81 points).