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Pakistan Plans 50 Billion Rupee Fund to Help Stocks

MUMBAI - Pakistan plans to set up a Rs50 billion ($702 million) fund to buy stocks as part of measures to support an equity market that had its biggest slump in a decade in May.

“It has been decided to set up a fund and we’ll meet financial institutions on July 16 to see how much they commit,” Shehzad Chamdia, broker and member of the stock exchange’s board said in an interview. “The fund will definitely help the market sustain the pressure and reduce volatility.”

The fund, which will be managed by state-run National Investment Trust, is likely to be introduced in two weeks, said a statement from the exchange yesterday. National Investment Trust, the biggest fund, manages 84.3 billion rupees in stocks.

The fund is the latest in a series of measures to stem the decline of share values at the Karachi Stock Exchange, Pakistan’s biggest. The exchange on June 23 limited share declines to 1 per cent a day from 5 per cent, and doubled the cap on increases to 10 per cent.

The so-called equity market opportunity fund will “provide stability and liquidity to the market in times of stress, provide an exit opportunity to small investors and reduce systemic risk in the market,” said the exchange’s statement.

State-run institutions

Over a dozen state-owned institutions including State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan State Oil and Oil & Gas Development Co. may invest their pension and retirement savings in the stabilisation fund, the statement said.

The fund will be permitted to sell only when the share price of a particular stock exceeds 20 per cent of its weighted average over the previous six months, the statement said. Brokerage commissions and taxes will not be applicable to the fund.

The exchange banned short selling on June 23 and announced a fund to halt slumping prices. The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index on June 24 rose 8.6 per cent, the most in six years. The measures followed a 29 per cent slump in the benchmark index in two months.

Stocks plunged earlier this year because Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the ruling coalition and co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, have failed to resolve differences over how to reinstate judges dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf. The two party leaders also differ over how to remove Musharraf and whether the former army chief should stand trial.