KARACHI: Pakistani stocks ended lower on Friday as investors booked profits after the market closed on a five-month high the previous day and also because of a fall in international oil prices, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100-share index ended 0.42 percent, or 53.08 points, lower at 12,455.34.
Turnover fell to 51.73 million shares, compared with 76.95 million shares traded on Thursday.
"Investors opted to book profits ahead of the weekend after enjoying a gain of 3 percent in the last few trading sessions," said Samar Iqbal, dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.
International oil's sharp sell-off paused on Friday as the impact of a surprise announcement of emergency fuel stocks from consumer nations faded.
Brent crude futures eased 38 cents to $106.88, while US crude futures recovered 45 cents to $91.47.
Brent fell around 6 percent on Thursday after consumer watchdog the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced the release of 60 million barrels of government-held stocks over the next 30 days.
Pakistan Oilfields ended 0.92 percent lower at 364.75 rupees.
In the currency market, the rupee weakened to 85.88/92 to the dollar, from Thursday's close of 85.72/76, due to increased dollar demand for import payments.
The rupee hit a record low of 86.50 last month, but dealers said the local unit is expected to stay largely stable in the coming days because of increased remittances from Pakistanis working abroad.
According to official data, remittances crossed $10 billion for the first time, hitting $10.1 billion in the first 11 months of the 2010/11 fiscal year, an increase of 25.20 percent compared with the same period last year.
In the money market, overnight rates rose to end between 13 percent and 13.25 percent, compared with the previous day's close of 11 percent despite an eight-day reverse repo in which the State Bank of Pakistan bought back government paper worth 15 billion Pakistani rupees.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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