Pakistani stocks slide again amid poll uncertainty
KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's share market tumbled for a second straight day on Tuesday as investors waited for a clearer picture to emerge of the country's political crisis.
The Karachi Stock Exchange 100-share index fell 3.8 percent in early trade, after last week's assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto unleashed a wave of violent unrest and threatened instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
The Election Commission is due to decide on Tuesday whether to delay elections scheduled for January 8 after Bhutto was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack last Thursday at a campaign rally.
"There is an element of nervousness and anxiety within the market. And a delay in the election schedule may add further to the anxiety," said Tariq Choudhry, head of sales at Invisor Securities.
Bhutto's murder threw into doubt a smooth transition to civilian-led democracy after almost a decade of military-backed government under President Pervez Musharraf. It also unleashed mob violence, especially in southern Sindh province, Bhutto's political stronghold and home to Karachi, the financial hub.
(Reporting by Faisal Aziz, editing by Mark Bendeich)
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