Stocks tumble 547 points on geopolitical noise
KARACHI: Investors awoke to the grim news on Wednesday morning that Iran had responded to the US killing of its military commander Qasem Soleimani by firing a dozen ballistic missiles at two American military facilities in Iraq.
As it stokes fears of war between US and Iran that threatens to drag the whole region into the conflict, the Pakistan stock market opened in the red. The KSE-100 index took a steep fall to intraday low of 731 points, before it recovered to positive 35 points for a brief moment. It finally settled in the red by 546.90 points (1.31 per cent) at 41,357.57.
On the domestic side, investors heaved a sigh of relief as the Senate passed the three Pakistan Services (Amendment) Bills concerning the tenure of chiefs of Army, Air Force and the Navy, as the government secured support of the two major political parties in the Opposition, setting to rest a long standing controversy.