Islamabad, Nov 5 (DPA) Pakistan’s major stock index plunged Monday afternoon amid rumours of President Pervez Musharraf being placed under house arrest after his weekend proclamation of a state of emergency.
Investors in the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) dumped shares, pulling the KSE-100 index down by 4.7 percent to 13,265 at 2 p.m.
“The stock market got off to a jittery start Monday morning in the wake of the deteriorating political crisis,” a senior broker told DPA over the phone.
He said it was one of the steepest dips in recent months.
The rumours of a mutiny and the ouster of Musharraf, who is also the head of the Pakistan Army, were promptly denied by the military.
“These are just baseless rumours,” the military’s chief spokesman, Major General Waheed Arshad told DPA. “The situation is normal, and President Musharraf is functioning as usual.”
Pakistan’s stock markets have been experiencing sporadic slumps since early this year because of the political turmoil.
Musharraf Saturday passed an executive order that partially suspended the country’s constitution, curtailed civil rights and replaced top members of the judiciary as it was close to deciding on the legality of his re-election last month.