KARACHI: Pakistani stocks fell in early trade on Monday after the removal a trading floor placed under its benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) almost four months ago, Reuters reported.

The floor was placed on the KSE index on Aug. 28 at 9,144 points after it fell nearly 35 percent on the year. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued a directive on Thursday for it to be removed on Monday.

‘There are no buyers in the market right now,’ said Shuja Rizvi, director broking operations at Capital One Equities.

‘There are sell orders at shares’ lower locks but noone is buying.’ The KSE 100-share index had fallen 0.42 percent, or 38.80 points, to 9,148.30 points on turnover of 30,880  shares by 9:56 a.m.

‘On fears of selling by foreigners and unwinding of leveraged positions, the market is expected to decline by 40-50 percent from the floor level,’ Salman Ali, an analyst at CitiBank, said in a note.

The floor crippled trade and authorities had proposed a 20 billion rupee government fund to support the market when the floor was removed.

But the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which last month bailed Pakistan out of a balance of payments crisis, said government money should not be used.

Analysts fear heavy foreign selling which would lead to portfolio outflows which would hurt the rupee which is down almost 22 percent this year.

The rupee ended at 78.82/85 to the dollar on Saturday.