KARACHI - Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday witnessed volatility right before and after the Panamagate verdict, with the benchmark 100-share index plunging sharply twice before inviting support from investors to close nearly flat for the third consecutive session.

After falling 719 points in the first session of trading on Friday, the index saw another sharp fall in the opening moments of the second session. However, investors soon started buying into the oversold market, helping the index recover to 45912.03 points, gaining 6.27 points. Market participants said the possibility of the prime minister's ouster had already been priced into the market, explaining the support on selling pressure.

Analyst at JS Global said Friday marks a historic day for Pakistan, where the apex court disqualified the incumbent PM as he failed to disclose his assets in his nomination papers for the general elections held in 2013 and furnished false declarations under oath.

After the SC verdict was heard (PM disqualification), the market slumped 3.8%/1700 points at the lowest. Subsequently, opportunists swooped in and bought aggressively, absorbing the selling & paring day’s losses to eventually close the market green by 6 points, he added.

Stocks closed flat amid late session recovery as uncertainty subsided after PM resignation amid disqualification verdict by Supreme Court in Panama Paper case, stated analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp.

Rising global crude prices, upbeat financial results in the energy and auto sectors played a catalyst role in major recovery at market close. Volume improved to 327m shares as compared to 158m shares of the previous dy. While traded value also increased to Rs21b. Scrips of total 364 active companies participated in the session of which 218 closed in green, 132 in red while 14 remained unchanged. AzgardNine led the volume with 24m traded shares, followed by Engro Polymer with 20mn shares traded and TRG Pak with 18.5m traded shares remained in spotlight in the session.

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