PSX Crashes After Court Jails Ex-PM Imran Khan for 10 Years Just Before Elections

Bears held the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) at gunpoint today with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing over 900 points in intraday trade after a special court handed both former Prime Minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi 10 years in jail just a week before elections. The benchmark KSE-100 index initially appeared bullish from the opening bell and rose over 280 points after trading resumed on Tuesday. Later, it immediately dropped into the red zone after the special court’s verdict. After opening trade at 62,773 points, the benchmark KSE-100 index rose to 63,058 at 10:41 AM and then slid by 1,120 points to 61,653 at 1:10 PM. Later at 3:15 PM, it plunged by up to 1,107 points to 61,666. It settled at 61,841, down 1.48 percent or 932 points. The KMI 30 index shed 2,047 points settling at 103,546, while the KSE All share index declined by 768 points to close at 41,909. The highest participation was witnessed in K-Electric Limited (PSX: KEL) with over 52.8 million shares traded, followed by Worldcall Telecom Limited (PSX: WTL) and Hascol Petroleum Limited (PSX: HACOL). The scrips had 29.2 million shares and 24.6 million shares traded, respectively.