Karachi Stock Exchange index ends up, rupee weakens

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) ended higher on Thursday, with investors accumulating shares in Engro Corp (ENGRO) , on hopes that gas supplies will be restored to fertiliser producers.

The KSE benchmark 100-share index ended 0.52 percent, or 61.37 points, higher at 11,807.46.

Volume fell to 61.49 million shares, compared with 63.86 million shares traded on Wednesday.

"Stocks ended higher amid thin trade at the KSE, on hopes that gas would be supplied to fertiliser producers," said Ahsan Mehanti, director at Arif Habib Investments Ltd.

Gas supplies to fertiliser producers were suspended at the beginning of last month.

ENGRO rose 4.99 percent, to end at 130.18 rupees.

In the currency market the rupee weakened to 86.15/19 to the dollar from 86.12/18 on Wednesday, amid high dollar demand from importers.

Dealers said healthy remittances from Pakistanis living abroad had been supporting the rupee in previous trading sessions, but cautioned that a widening current account deficit means the local currency could experience downward pressure in the days ahead.

Pakistan's current account deficit surged to a provisional $908 million in September, compared with a deficit of $201 million in August.

The deficit for the July-September quarter was a provisional $1.209 billion, compared with $597 million in the same period last year, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan.

In the money market, overnight rates ended higher at 11.90 percent, compared with the previous day's close of 11.75 percent, as there were scheduled outflows of around 300 billion rupees ($3.48 billion) against inflows of 215 billion rupees.

Copyright Reuters, 2011