KSE mulls floor lift after govt refuses funds

KARACHI - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has disapproved the government plan to inject the market support fund worth Rs20 billion into the Karachi Stock Market (KSE) before removal of floor mechanism aiming to salvage the crisis-ridden stock market from collapse, which had fallen down to around 42 per cent as compared to its highest ever position recorded on April 2008.
Reliable sources told The Nation that representatives of finance ministry and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday had informed the KSE management that the government had failed to arrange the funds for the promised “market support fund” and given permission to the KSE management to remove the floor as soon as possible without availability of funds.
SECP has warned the management of KSE to announce a date for floor removal immediately otherwise SECP would use its authority and remove floor very soon, source said.
After getting directions from the SECP, the Board of Directors of three stock markets of the country called an emergency meeting in which SECP Chairman also participated but both regulators failed to take any decision regarding floor removal in haste on Wednesday and adjourned the meeting till Friday, Dec 05.