Pakistan Stocks Reverse Gains After Premiers Adviser Resigns

Pakistan‘s stocks reversed gains Monday as Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special assistant on information Asim Saleem Bajwa, a retired lieutenant general, resigned days ahead of protests planned by the opposition parties, raising concerns of increased political uncertainty.

Khan “approved my request” to relinquish the additional post, Bajwa said in a Twitter post on Monday. He will keep working as the head of the more than $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, also known as CPEC under Chinas Belt and Road Initiative.

The resignation of Khan‘s key spokesman comes amid increasing challenges to his about two-year-old government as he struggles to contain inflation and revive the South Asian country’s economy. Meanwhile, an alliance of 11 opposition parties is planning on holding its first protest rally this week, which is the start of a series of such meetings aimed at ousting Khan.

The benchmark KSE-100 index closed down 1.4%, reversing earlier gains of as much as 0.6%. The stocks have advanced 48% since touching this years low on March 25.

“The investors are being cautious and booking profits after recent events including Bajwa‘s resignation and the opposition’s planned protest add to the uncertainty,” said Qasim Shah, head of international sales at JS Global Capital ltd. in Karachi.

The premier had turned down Bajwa‘s earlier request to resign after a report in August by Ahmed Noorani, an investigative journalist, that Bajwa’s family owned many franchises of Papa John‘s International Inc. Khan had said he accepted Bajwa’s clarification that the expansion of his family business was not linked to his rise in the military.