KARACHI, Jan 15: Stocks fell by over 500 points, the fourth time in its history, in volatile trade on Tuesday following arrest orders issued for the prime minister in a corruption case as the country seemed to be heading into a political crisis.

The Karachi Stock Exchange crashed after the apex court ordered arrest of the prime minister in rental power case.

Investors who were already cautious due to protest march in Islamabad got panicked and aggressively sold their positions.

The KSE witnessed fall of over 500 points for the fourth time in its. Last time such a major fall was seen in May 2008 when equities fell due to the impact of global financial crisis. Volumes remained high due to extreme volatility. Going forward developments on the domestic

political front will play a key role on the share prices,’’ said Mohammad Sohail, chief executive at Topline Securities Ltd.

The Karachi Stock Exchange ended 3.16 per cent, or 525.29 points lower at 16,107.89 points after trading in a broad range from 16,633.18 points to 16,049.06 points. Turnover increased to 239.42 million shares compared with just 87.94m shares traded on Monday as nervous investors wanted to square their positions.

Trading value increased to Rs5.28 billion from Rs1.69bn the previous day but market capitalisation fell to Rs4.04 trillion from Rs4.17tr.

The Supreme Court orders came as chief of Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) Dr Tahirul Qadri called for the “corrupt” and “inefficient” sitting government to step down. He also threatened that the people would otherwise “take matters into their own hands”.

“We expect market to remain under pressure in the coming days where foreign selling will be the key near-term risk," said Ayub Ansari of AKD Securities Ltd.

Foreign investors also became net sellers on Tuesday as they sold shares worth a net $124,457 after buying a net $982,819.41 on Monday, bringing the total for this month at $6.26million.

The KSE-30 ended 2.84 per cent, or 385.59 points lower at 13,196.76. Out of the 365 companies traded on Tuesday, only 15 advanced, 336 declined and the value of 14 companies remained unchanged.

"The Supreme Court order really spooked the investors and obviously took them by surprise and it seems unclear what is going to happen going forward," said Sayem Ali, economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

“Until we get clarity on how the political dynamics will play out, the market is likely to remain volatile, correction will continue and foreign investors will obviously want to sit on the sidelines."

Investors will be awaiting clarity on the following elements before indulging in fresh buying: When are the elections? Who is going to be in the caretaker government? What’s going to become of the long march? How will opposition parties going to react?