Pakistani stocks fell Monday after the country's main exchange removed a price floor introduced more than three months ago in a bid to stem financial turmoil. The Karachi Stock Exchange's main 100-share index fell 259.71 points, or 2.9 percent, to close at 9187.10, a 2 1/2-year low. The emergency floor had brought trading to a virtual standstill. With Pakistan still mired in political and economic uncertainty, analysts forecast the index will fall further, also to reflect the slide in equity values worldwide. “The long closure has done a lot of damage,” said Muhammad Sohail, a director of JS Global, a Karachi-based securities firm. “It will be months before the market becomes attractive again.” The exchange placed a floor under the index on Aug. 28 after it had shed 42 percent of its value in little over four months amid fear of an economic collapse fueled by the rising power of Islamic militants. Authorities had sought to establish a 20 billion rupee ($256 million) fund to prevent a renewed plunge and an exodus of foreign investors once the floor was removed. However, the International Monetary Fund, which last month agreed to a $7.6 billion bailout package for Pakistan, objected to government money being used for the plan. After a series of missed deadlines and with trading stalled, Pakistan's Security and Exchange Commission last week ordered the emergency measure lifted so normal trading could resume. The exchange still limits the daily rise or fall of the KSE-100 index to 5 percent. Analysts said the relatively modest decline on Monday was a result of thin trading volumes and forecast that index will shed another 30 percent of its value. “There are no buyers because investors have no confidence,” said Ahsan Mehanti, chief financial officer of Shehzad Chamdia Securities.
