Equities nosedive on deepening political turmoil.

KARACHI -- Share prices came under pressure on Friday because of rising political wrangling in Punjab where the chief minister formally asked the provincial governor to dissolve the legislature.

The tussle hurt sentiments of the investors who now expect the political move will be repeated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to increase pressure on the collation government at the federal level for early general elections, according to Topline Securities.

Participation from investors remained muted as growing uncertainty on the political front kept them on the sidelines. Hascol Petroleum Ltd posted a high trading volume because of its 'other than financial result' board meeting scheduled for Monday.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,323.45 points, down 480.44 points or 1.18 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 1.2 per cent to 173.3 million shares. The traded value went down 21.5pc to $20.3m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Hascol Petroleum Ltd (25.1m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (21.4m shares), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (12.9m shares), Summit Bank Ltd (9.7m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (7.5m shares).

Sectors...