In line with most Asian stocks, the benchmark index of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) plunged by over 1,000 points in intraday trading on Monday.
The KSE-100 Index stood at 32,965 points at 1pm after registering a decline of 2.73% since the beginning of trading at 9:30am.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Shajar Capital Investment Analyst Hamza Kamal said a complete absence of triggers to drive the market has caused selling on the Karachi bourse.
“Today the rumours about the potential arrests of stock (market)-related people intensified the panic,” said Mohammad Sohail, an analyst and the chief of Topline Securities
Authorities have in recent months embarked on an anti-corruption drive, with former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who held office from 2008-2012, facing 24 graft charges.
Further, former petroleum minister Asim Hussain, a close aide to ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, was also remanded into the custody of Pakistan’s Rangers paramilitary force over another corruption case.
Officials of the state-run Sui Southern Gas Company, one of the exchange’s blue chips, were also being questioned by anti-corruption officials.
According to an equity trader working for another Karachi-based brokerage house, individual investors have been selling shares on the KSE after most Asian stock markets experienced a bearish trend on Monday.
“Individual investors are panicking and have trimmed their positions,” he said.
Prices of as many as 276 stocks have declined while those of 23 stocks have appreciated since morning, KSE data shows.
So far, 178 million shares have been traded on the bourse with the exchange value of Rs9.6 billion.
The KSE-100 Index shrank by 1.6% last week amid reports that the bearish trend in the market was partly because a few brokers had received notices from regulators over non-compliance of client segregation regulations.
