Business | Economy
Pakistan stocks fall on political turmoil
Pakistan stocks ended down more than two per cent on Tuesday amid political uncertainty prompted by plans to impeach the country's president and growing violence in the northwest, dealers said.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:59 August 12, 2008
Karachi: Pakistan stocks ended down more than two per cent on Tuesday amid political uncertainty prompted by plans to impeach the country's president and growing violence in the northwest, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index closed 2.05 per cent, or 208.28 points, lower at 9,963.58 on a turn-over of over 56 million shares.
"The market was doing positive in the early trade but then there was news of bombings in the northwest. Also the political outlook is looking quite uncertain," said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at Arif Habib.
Investors have also been rattled by a political crisis, which helped push the rupee to a record low of around 73.70/80 to the dollar yesterday.
The coalition government said last week it intended to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, a former army commander and staunch US ally.
The market has dropped 29 per cent this year, making it the third worst-performing market in Asia after China and Vietnam.
Like Vietnam and many other Asian countries, Pakistan has been battling inflation as prices for food and energy soar.
Consumer prices
Pakistan's consumer price index rose 24.33 per cent in July from a year ago, the Federal Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. Inflation is now at its highest in more than three decades.
Among the most active companies, Zeal Pak was down 5.8 per cent, OGDC was down 1.1 per cent while NIB Bank shed 3.2 per cent.
Dealers said investors were holding back despite Moody's maintaining Pakistan's rating. A senior analyst at Moody's told Reuters that the agency was keeping Pakistan's ratings unchanged.
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