KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange reacted negatively to Monday’s damning report against the prime minister and his family by the Panama case Joint Investigation Team.
The benchmark KSE 100-index dropped by over 2,153 points, reaching 44,120 points on Tuesday.
The decline in the stock market represented a loss of Rs425 billion, informed sources, adding that share value of 305 companies fell as a result.
On Monday, the day the JIT report was submitted, the KSE-100 index experienced a gain of 2.33% or 1,051.66 points, to close at 46,273.81 points.
The stock market has been taking hits since the past month or so for various reasons, including the ‘unjust buildup’ to its entry in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, ‘unfriendly’ measures in the new fiscal year’s budget and the ‘political uncertainty’ related to the Panama Papers case.
On June 12, after the prime minister was summoned to appear before the JIT, the benchmark index fell by 1,855 points at the close of trading.
The JIT, in its final probe report into the Sharif family’s assets, held that the prime minister and his three children — Maryam, Hussain and Hasan — have accumulated wealth beyond their own known sources of income.
The next hearing of the case is on July 17.
The Supreme Court’s special implementation bench also directed on Monday for the registration of an FIR against Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Chairman Zafar Hijazi for tampering records in favour of the Sharif family.