Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) index declined nearly 10% to a fresh record low on Monday, amid global turmoil triggered by escalating tensions in the Middle East after the air strike by the US and Israel against Iran over the weekend. The benchmark KSE-100 index declined more than 16,300 points, or 9.7%, marking its largest-ever single-day fall.
The KSE-100 index declined as much as 16,314.22 points to an intraday low of 151,747.95 on Monday from the previous close of 1,68,062.17. However, the key index pared some of the early losses to trade at 1,51,798.55, down 9.68% in the afternoon trade at around 2:15 p.m.
The key losers included K-Electric Ltd., which declined 12.53%. Worldcall Telecom Ltd. dropped 13.18%, while shares of First National Equities Ltd. fell 20.13%.
After the early crash, trading activities on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) were temporarily halted. The stock market fall was witnessed as the Middle East tensions and the country's ongoing military operations against Afghanistan dampened investor sentiment, according to The Dawn.
The KSE-30 index, which tracks the performance of the top 30 most liquid companies listed on the PSX, also declined by up to 9.9% to an intraday low of 46,248.41.
Following the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US and Israeli joint military operation this weekend, Pakistan has witnessed widespread protests across the country.
At least 20 civilians were reportedly killed, including 10 in Karachi, after protests erupted in multiple cities on Sunday. Protesters held demonstrations near United States diplomatic missions and dozens were wounded as protests turned violent in many cities, according to an Al Jazeera report.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in view of the recent developments in Iran and the ongoing military action against Afghanistan. Sharif also postponed his planned visit to Russia amid the prevailing global tensions, according to a Dawn report.
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