Pakistani stocks fell on Thursday as investors opted to book profits after the main index gained more than 6 percent in the last six sessions,dealers said. The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100-share index,ended 0.90 percent,or 91.20 points,lower at 10,095.80. It closed at a 2-month high on Wednesday. Volume fell to 91.69 million shares from 121.26 million shares traded on Wednesday. The index has posted decent gains in the last few days so it was due for a correction,which we saw today as investors opted to book profits,said Khalid Iqbal Siddiqui,director at Invest and Finance Securities. Dealers said lack of interest from foreign investors also contributed in the slide of the index. They said that the market is likely to gain further after the expected approval of the reintroduction of margin buying. The Karachi Stock Exchange authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) met last week to discuss the reintroduction of margin buying but it was not finalised in the meeting. However,it was decided that a final document would be submitted to the SECP by next week. In the currency market,the rupee (PKR) ended at 85.50/60 to the dollar,down from 85.44/54 on Wednesday,and dealers said the local unit was expected to hover stay rangebound near term. The rupee fell to a record closing low of 85.75/80 on Monday amid high dollar demand from importers as well as debt repayments. In the money market,overnight rates edged up to 12.40 percent from 12.25 percent a day earlier and dealers expected them to stay high in coming days in the absence of any major cash inflows.
