Stocks closed in the red on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 234.4 points, or 0.56 per cent, to close at 41,856.31 points.

The index saw an intraday low of 369.81 points, or 0.88pc, around 2:55pm.

Head of Equities at Intermarket Securities, Raza Jafri, said the market opened on a weak note as expected after yesterday’s assassination attempt on former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

“Volumes are thin as investors wait for more clarity. The near-term outlook depends on if political polarisation intensifies from here on, or if cooler heads prevail and tempers are scaled back,” he commented on the early morning fall.

First National Equities Limited Director Amir Shehzad also attributed the stock market’s fall to the attack on Imran. However, since economic conditions were “comparatively better”, unless the PTI called on its workers to resort to violence, the market might recover, he said.

Shehzad said the cement sector was showing a very strong performance and a lot of positive outcomes were expected during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdu­laziz Al-Saud’s upcoming visit so the market would likely move towards improvement unless there was unrest.

A day earlier, Imran was shot at and injured when a suspect, standing in front of the container carrying the PTI chief and senior party leaders, showered a volley of bullets with an automatic pistol when the party’s ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ march reached Wazirabad’s Allahwala Chowk.

It later transpired that a PTI supporter, identified as Muazzam Nawaz, had lost his life, while 14 party leaders and workers, including Senator Faisal Javed Khan, Ahmad Nasir Chattha and Omer Mayar, were among the injured.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who sustained multiple bullet injuries in his leg, was reported to be stable and shifted to Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital in Lahore.

Later after his operation at Shaukat Khanum, the PTI chairman said he was fine and expressed the resolve that the long march would continue and reach Islamabad.