Pakistan's KSE sheds 137 points

ISLAMABAD, April 16 -- Bears cemented their position at Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) as investors remained cautious ahead of Friends of Pakistan Conference on Thursday.

The market started off by touching the psychological 8,000-point level but couldn't hold on to its gains as investors opted for profit-booking. At one stage the main index breached 7,500-point level, but later buying from the institutions enabled the market to get back some of its gains and finished 137 points lower as compared to Wednesday.

The benchmark KSE 100-Index shed 137 points to end at 7670.08 points; the KSE All Share Index lost 93.38 points to rest at 5511.36 points and KSE 30-Index fell by 174.40 points to finish at 8395.43 points.

As far as market volumes are concerned, market witnessed buying as well as selling activities during the course of the day as it recorded 337,353,420 turnovers.

Bears also took control on active issues chart as a total of 349 scrips exchanged hands, out of which share value of 111 equities advanced, 224 declined, while share prices of 14 stocks remained unchanged.

Analysts are of the view that local as well as foreign investors are waiting for the outcome of the Friends of Pakistan conference which is to be held tomorrow, while State Bank of Pakistan is due to announce new monetary policy on April 20.