Karachi Stock Exchange ends down 0.80pc

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended down 0.80 percent, or 98.53 points, at 12,265.53 on turnover of 61.22 million shares.

Foreign investors sold Pakistan Oilfields (POL) shares and that prompted local investors to be cautious as well, dealers said.

POL ended 4.94 percent lower at 363.30 rupees.

"Aggressive offloading in POL by leading institutions triggered a selloff across the board and continuous selling by foreigners in the last few sessions also depressed market sentiment," said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.

In the money market, overnight rates closed at a day's high of 13.90 percent, compared with the previous day's close of 12 percent to 12.50 percent, and dealers said they were awaiting the result of a treasury bill auction in which they expected the cut-off yields to be 5 to 10 basis points higher.

The result was due to be announced later in the day.

Copyright Reuters, 2011