SECP freezes share prices as KSE tumbles

Stocks have lost over 45 per cent since January, including more than 12 per cent in just one week after the resignation of former president Pervez Musharraf and subsequent breakdown of the ruling coalition.

While on the other hand, the board members of the KSE were not confirming the approval from the SECP till filing this report. They said that they have also been waiting for the final verdict of SECP on this issue for last several hours.

Board members said that they have sent a proposal to SECP for freezing the market on the request of the members of the KSE.

Earlier, the crisis-ridden market continued its bearish trend over the last seven days mainly owing to the new wave of instability on the political front, which emerged after the resignation of former President Pervez Musharraf that led the benchmark KSE-100 to erode 1,574 points, 15 per cent since last Wednesday.

KSE-100 index on Wednesday crossed the psychological barrier of 9000 marks by falling lower down to 8,999 points and then recovered to close at 9,144 points, registering decline of 285 points.

Market capitalisation ended at Rs 2.860 trillion on Wednesday, reflecting decline of Rs 84 billion against the capitlalisation recorded a day earlier.

Free float KSE 30-share index plunged by 391 points or 3.72 per cent, closing at 10,144 points. However, volumes increased by 6 million shares to a level of 94 million shares.

Steep decline witnessing over the last six sessions have crushed the confidence of investors, which was seen since the early morning trading on Wednesday, when they opted for selling shares in panic, as result of which most of the blue chips retreated to lower locks and index further sank by 430 points.

The pathetic situation of the stock market and fear of protest from the small investors, who are believed to be on the verge of default brought the management of the stock market to beef up the security steps to thwart any untoward incident, as the unpleasant situation emerged few weeks back following the sharp decline at the stock markets.