Pakistan stocks end lower, rupee strengthens, o/n rate rise

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(Reuters) – Pakistan’s main stock exchange closed lower on Friday, with the benchmark 100-share index of the Karachi Stock Exchange falling 1.73 percent or 393.51 points to 22,387.31.

Led by a sharp fall in banking stocks, the market declined by two percent.

Banking stocks closed at the lower circuit breaker after State Bank announced a 50bps increase in the minimum PLS rate. Bank of Punjab led the volume with 15 million shares followed by Telecard with 10.5 million shares and National Bank with 10 million shares. Participation remained low amid concerns of currency depreciation as volumes witnessed a decline of 21 percent to Rs.5.6 billion, dealers said.

National Bank of Pakistan fell 4.99 percent to 51.27 rupees while the Bank of Punjab was down 3.82 percent to 11.83 rupees.

The rupee ended higher at 105.67/105.76 against the dollar, compared to Thursday’s close of 106.35/106.45.

Overnight rates in the money market rose to 9.40 percent from Thursday’s close of 7.00 percent. (Compiled by the Karachi newsroom)

Sanie Khan

Sanie Khan holds a deep knowledge of the financial markets in Pakistan. Based in Karachi, he has over 20 years of hands-on management experience in financial technologies and managing operations in the financial sector. He was the General Manager at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for 17 years. He along-with senior members of Exchange

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