Political uncertainty hit the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday as the KSE-100 Index nosedived 1.54% to close below 42,000.

Selling pressure remained evident throughout the session, pulling the market lower. As a result, the KSE-100 Index fell 650 points or 1.54% to close at 41,540.03.

KSE-100 falls 0.37% in range-bound trading

Across the board sell-off was witnessed at the bourse that stemmed from the announcement of another “long march” by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan late on Tuesday.

The ‘Haqiqi Azadi March’ is set to begin from Lahore on Friday and will make its way to Islamabad.

Trading kicked off with a drop and the market reported losses in the first half of the session. In the second half, the KSE-100 Index remained largely range-bound and closed in the red.

All index-heavy sectors ending the day at a negative note.

“This was expected after the long march announcement by PTI,” Sana Tawfik, Vice President of Research at Arif Habib Limited (AHL) told Business Recorder.

“The ongoing political noise is very strong and despite results season, the uncertainty is expected to persist in the market,” she added.

The market expert said that despite recent positive developments including the removal of Pakistan from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, “political uncertainty is overshadowing the positives”.

Meanwhile, Samiullah Tariq, Head of Research at Pak Kuwait Investment Company Limited, said what happens over the weekend will be a key indication for future direction.

“The impact of the political development will dilute in the coming days, and over the weekend one will get a fairer idea on market direction,” he said.

In its report, Capital Stake said “investors at PSX witnessed a bloodbath on Wednesday”.

Indices slipped lower and lower all day long whereas volumes surged from last close, it said.

Sectors painting the benchmark KSE-100 index in the red included cement (97.77 points), technology and communication (91.03 points) and oil and gas exploration (81.19 points).

On the economic front, the rupee depreciated Re0.95 or 0.43% to close at Rs220.678 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market.

Volume on the all-share index rose to 265.4 million from 195.4 million on Tuesday. Similarly, the value of shares traded increased to Rs7.7 billion from Rs6.24 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 35.4 million shares, followed by G3 Technologies Class B with 14.5 million shares and K-Electric with 12.3 million shares

Shares of 322 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 52 registered an increase, 261 recorded a fall, and 9 remained unchanged.