The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) traded in the red again on Tuesday with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 1,000 points shortly after trading began.

According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index was down 1121.24 points, or 1.84 per cent, to stand at 59,944.07 points from yesterday’s close of 61,065.31.

This was the third consecutive session in which the market has plunged more than 1,000 points. On Friday, KSE-100 index had plunged 1,200 points over the delay in announcing the results of general elections, to settle below 63,000.

Yesterday, the PSX witnessed a meltdown as post-election political instability triggered an across-the-board panic selling, which dragged the KSE 100-share index below 61,000, hitting an intraday low at 60,647.68. The index closed at 61,065.32 points after tumbling by 1,878.43 points or 2.98 per cent from the preceding session.

Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, said the downward trajectory was led by Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) amid reports the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not agree with the government’s circular debt reduction plan.

“The market was expecting a big dividend due to this,” he said.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Ltd, said stocks fell sharply lower on “political noise and reports of IMF disapproval on govt proposals for resolving the circular debt crisis”.

Khurram Schehzad, the chief executive of financial consultancy firm Alpha Beta Core, noted that the PSX had continued its downward trajectory “largely due to uncertainty over the formation of the new government”.

“Historically, the PSX showed jubilance post elections where market used to go up 2-3 per cent in the first two days post-elections (2008, 2013, 2018 elections),” he said.

“The trend may continue with investor confidence losing further. However sooner a concrete decision is made/announced by the winning political parties, with clarity on an economic team with a plan and direction towards addressing the key challenges, the market should take a sharp recovery,” he said.