Political turbulence and currency devaluation dented investor confidence at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index slipped by 0.74% on Thursday, while volumes and value of shares traded improved from the previous session.

“During the trading hours, investors opted to remain sidelined as all eyes were now on the Supreme Court's decision regarding the National Assembly's Speaker ruling against ‘Vote of No Confidence’,” said Topline Securities.

The session kicked off on a positive note, increasing 238.49 points as the benchmark index hit an intra-day high of 44,349.86. However, gains were erased soon after as political and economic turmoil took centre-stage.

At close, the KSE-100 ended with a drop of 324.27 points, or 0.74%, to finish at 43,786.83.

“The depreciation of rupee against the US dollar and political unrest in the country dented investor confidence who preferred to stay on the sidelines,” said Capital Stake in its post-market comment.

On the economic front, in an emergency meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to raise policy rate by 250bps to 12.25%, an announcement that was made after market-close.

The development is likely to be reflected in Friday's proceedings at the PSX.

On the corporate front, Nimir Industrial Chemicals Limited informed the bourse that its Home Care Production Facility has been successfully completed. “The company has started commercial production of the home care products for its multinational customers, whom the company is already working with,” read the notification.

Sectors dragging the benchmark KSE 100 lower included banking (114.70 points), cement (47.59 points) and power generation and distribution (34.37 points).

Volume on the all-share index increased to 141.01 million from 108.41 million on Wednesday. The value of shares traded also improved to Rs4.98 billion from Rs4.27 billion recorded in the previous session.

Ghani Global Holdings was the volume leader with 11.14 million shares, followed by Pak Elektron with 9.24 million shares, and K-Electric Limited with 7.7 million shares.

Shares of 308 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 93 registered an increase, 193 recorded a fall, and 22 remained unchanged.