Pak stocks end higher; Re flat

Investors took fresh positions as they are expecting some positive outcome from tomorrow8217;s meeting on margin trading,said Sajid Bhanji,director at brokers8217; Arif Habib Ltd.

In the currency market,the rupee ended almost flat at 85.66/76 to the dollar,compared with Thursday8217;s close of 85.65/71 to the dollar and dealers expect pressure on the local unit to continue amid higher import payments.

The rupee hit a record low of 86.03 last week and has lost 0.42 percent this year,after losing 6.17 percent in 2009.

In the money market,overnight rates ended lower at 10.10 percent,compared with Thursday8217;s close of between 11.0 and 11.5 percent,and dealers expect rates to rise in the short term.

Dealers said the next outflows amounting to 103 billion rupees 1.2 billion were scheduled for Friday.

Markets were closed from Friday and reopened on Tuesday because of the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr.