Pakistan stocks tumble amid global rout; KSE 100 falls over 4 per cent

Karachi: Mirroring global rout in equities, the Karachi Stock Exchange index plummeted by 1,419 points or 4.11 per cent, on panic selling by investors.

The KSE 100 points index plunged by 1,419 points to settle at 33,100.34 points.

Arif Habib, the President of KSE, said that the index lost because of panic selling mainly by foreign investors.

"But the opportunities are there and we think the market will gain later this week," he said.

He said that the trend witnessed in the KSE was in line with nearly all global share markets that have been bearish amidst concerns over the slowdown in the Chinese economy and political instability in Greece.

A stock investor said that there was panic selling since foreign investors probably wanted to recoup loss they suffered in other emerging global markets.

The exchange rate of the US dollar also showed marked appreciation in the interbank and open market.

In the interbank the dollar appreciated by Rs 2.10 to reach a 17-month high of Rs 104.10 but came down to 103.90 at close.

According to an analyst there were fears that some dominant exporter groups are trying to create instability in the market by buying US dollars in huge quantity and there was growing demand for the green buck because of the impending Haj season.

Currency dealers were recently allowed by the State Bank to bring dollars from Dubai directly in their accounts in Pakistan instead of routing them through banks in a bid to meet the demand for dollars and for speedy supply of dollars in the open market.