KARACHI: Pakistan’s main stock market closed slightly down on Tuesday in thin trade with investors cautious ahead of a possible showdown between the Supreme Court and the government on Wednesday, dealers said.

The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index lost 1.53 points, or 0.01 per cent, to close at 14,672.24 on volume of 28.45 million shares.

“The market remained range-bound today. Investors opted for cautious stance with the Supreme Court hearing tomorrow,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court gave Prime Minister Raja Pervez shraf an Aug 8 deadline to reopen old corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. The government has so far refused, saying Zardari has immunity as head of state.

Ashraf could lose his office, like his predecessor Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was disqualified by the court after being found guilty of contempt for refusing to reopen the cases.

In the currency market, the rupee weakened slightly to close at 94.20/25 to the dollar, compared to 94.12/19 on Monday.

Overnight rates in the money market closed lower at 11.25 per cent, compared with 11.90 on Monday, because of increased liquidity.