Pakistan stocks nosedive after surgical strikes by India

Lahore: Pakistani stock markets on Thursday nosedived following reports that India carried out surgical strikes against terror bases across the LoC.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange fell by around 150 points or 0.40 per cent to 40,307 points by close showing a trend of recovery after the Pakistan Army denied any surgical strikes were carried out from across the border.

But at midday when the news first filtered in the Karachi Stock Exchange-100 index of the PSE shed around 700 points after opening at 40,861.

Stock dealers said the nose dive was not surprising as for days there has been rumour mongering that a war would break out between the two countries.

"So when the news first came in that India had carried out surgical strikes there was panic on the floor but after the statement issued by Pakistan Army things settled down a bit and there was a recovery of sorts," a dealer, Ghaffar Billo said.

Another dealer said that the market had opened strong because of the OPEC's decision to cut oil output but slid after the news came in.