KARACHI: The stock market staged its grandest rally in 19 months on Tuesday, after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan backed off from a planned “lockdown” of the capital Islamabad.
The benchmark KSE-100 index soared 1,406 points (3.52 per cent) to storm past the 40,000 mark and closed at 41,300.
As many as 95 stocks hit their upper circuits, reflecting the maximum gain of 5pc permitted for a day in any stock.
At the start of the session, the index sank further by 38 points. But the mood of investors quickly changed from despondency to wide-eyed optimism after the Supreme Court passed a decree that it would decide on a commission to probe the Panama Papers leaks as per its own terms of reference.
Hearing was suspended till Thursday. Investors sensed thaw in the seemingly unending battle between the two political rivals as PTI changed the “lockdown” of Islamabad on Wednesday, to celebrate a “thanksgiving” day.