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KARACHI: Pakistani stocks ended more than 1 per cent lower on Thursday as investors booked profits following the market’s close on a four-year high the previous day and also on rising political uncertainty, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index closed 1.07 per cent, or 151.65 points, lower at 14,066.09 points. The index ended at 14,217.74 on Wednesday, the highest close since May 2008.
“There was some profit booking but the market managed to close above 14,000 points which is a good sign,” said Shuja Rizvi, a dealer at Al-Hoqqani Securities.
Dealers also said that there was selling after the Supreme Court found Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani guilty of contempt of court for refusing to re-open corruption cases against the president. The court gave the prime minister only a symbolic sentence of a few minutes detention in the courtroom.
“Rising political uncertainty after the court decision against Prime Minister affected the market sentiment.” said Muhammed Rizwan, a dealer at Topline Securities.
Among the most active companies, Jahangir Siddiqui, volume leader, ended 5.58 per cent lower at 16.92 rupees, IGI Investment Bank fell 7.89 per cent to close at 3.27 rupees, and Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd shed 4.26 per cent to end at 12.80 rupees.
In the currency market, the rupee ended slightly weaker at 90.80/86 to the dollar, compared with Wednesday’s close of 90.78/83 because of increased import payments following international oil prices inching above $119 a barrel on Thursday.
The rupee has been supported by remittances, which rose 21.45 per cent to $9.73 billion in the first nine months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $8.02 billion in the same period last year.
In March, remittances totaled $1.14 billion.
In its monetary policy statement this month, the State Bank of Pakistan said the external sector was likely to remain under pressure because of both external debt payments and a lack of foreign aid.
Pakistan’s current account deficit widened to a provisional $3.089 billion in the first nine months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $10 million over the same period in the previous year, the central bank said on Wednesday.
Overnight rates in the money market ended flat at 11.90 per cent, unchanged from the previous day’s close amid tight liquidity in the interbank market.
