KARACHI, Sept 8: The members of the Karachi Stock Exchange, in an overwhelming majority voted in favour of asking the board of directors of the bourse to let the ‘floor’ stay put.

“The board, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, is likely to endorse the members’ decision”, said a senior broker.

The board’s ‘discretionary decision’ would be conveyed to the watchdog, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

At the scheduled mid-afternoon meeting of the members of the KSE held on Monday, the broker fraternity which participated in large numbers, voted in favour of letting the market downside be capped at the 9,144 level.

On Aug 27, when the KSE-100 index had dipped below the 9,000 level for a brief moment, the KSE put planks under that day’s closing prices to prevent stocks from further fall.

In four months since the KSE 100-share index all-time high of 15,760, touched on April 20, the stocks have lost 6,000 points that wiped out as much as Rs1.3 trillion in market capitalisation.

The seven trading days since the ‘floor’ was placed on Wednesday Aug 27, the KSE index has crawled up by 152 points or just 1.7 per cent, which traders said reflected nervousness on the part of investors to enter the market, given the uncertainties on the political and economic fronts.

The market was expected to greet the smooth election of Asif Ali Zardari as the president, with a giant leap in equity values, which it did in the early session, but the frenzy proved to be short-lived as the index dropped towards the end to close 46 points in the red.

“It was one of the reasons that many members who wanted a removal of the floor changed their mind,” said a member. “If such a major event cannot reassure the market, what else can?” most members thought.

A former director of KSE said that vast numbers of small brokers were hanging on to the last straw and if the floor were to be removed, they could land in dire financial strait”.

He admitted that the foreign investors were frustrated and were demanding free movement, but he said that a realisation was dawning that if the market sinks, it would pull with it the foreigners’ investment of around $2.5 billion as well.

Tired of bleak headlines, the market meanwhile was desperately in search of ‘positive’ news, that could revive investor interest in the equity market, analysts said.