The Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday jumped by over 500 points after news broke that the Election Commission of Pakistan had announced a tentative period to hold general elections in the country.
On Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a statement which said that elections will be scheduled for the last week of January 2024 without committing a specific date to hold elections.
However, the news had a massive impact on the bourse, which at that point was languishing at a day low of 45,733.44 points.
The index had opened the day at 45,889.57 points. After reaching a high of 46,067.75 points early in the first session, the index had gradually declined for the rest of the day, losing cumulatively 334.31 points and 156.13 points over the previous day.
But as news of the elections broke, the bourse jumped.
From 45,733.44 points at around 2:30 pm, it rose by 576.36 points to a high of 46,309.80 points in an hour by 3:29pm.
At that point, the bourse started levelling off as the shock impact of the news started wearing off investors.