KARACHI: Pakistani stocks closed lower on Friday as investors booked profits after speculation that there would not be a high cut in interest rates.  

The central bank announced its monetary policy decision today with 0.5 per cent interest rate cut to 10.00 per cent from the previous 10.50 per cent.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended 0.32 per cent, or 49.80 points, lower at 15,739.16 on total volume of 145.84 million shares.

“The issue is that there was some speculation at the end of the stock market that this would not be a significant cut. This is why the market was not able to sustain the sentiment it was getting in the last few sessions. People were expecting more,” said Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp.

In the currency market, the Pakistani rupee ended weaker at 95.46/95.51 to the dollar compared to Thursday’s close of 95.35/95.55.  Overnight rates in the money market ended higher at 10.40 per cent compared to Thursday’s 7.50 per cent.