Trading low in KSE after floor lifted

Karachi stocks market fell in early trade on Monday after the removal a trading floor placed under its benchmark stock index almost four months ago. The floor was placed on the KSE index on Aug. 28 at 9,144 points after it fell nearly 35 percent on the year. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued a directive on Thursday for it to be removed on Monday. "There are no buyers in the market right now," said Shuja Rizvi, director broking operations at Capital One Equities. "There are sell orders at shares' lower locks but noone is buying. "On fears of selling by foreigners and unwinding of leveraged positions, the market is expected to decline by 40-50 percent from the floor level," Salman Ali, an analyst at CitiBank, said in a note. The floor crippled trade and authorities had proposed a 20 billion rupee ($254 million) government fund to support the market when the floor was removed. Analysts fear heavy foreign selling which would lead to portfolio outflows which would hurt the rupee which is down almost 22 percent this year.