Associated Press of Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistani stocks fell on Friday, following the three-week postponement of an interest rate review meeting by the central back, which dealers said raised doubts regarding an imminent rate cut.

The State Bank of Pakistan that it was delaying the announcement of its monetary policy for the July-September quarter to Aug. 15 from July 25, but did not give any reason for the delay said on Friday.

The Karachi Stock Exchange's (KSE) benchmark 100-share index .KSE ended down 1.02 percent, or 80.47 points, at 7,783.39 after touching an intra-day high of 7,897.15.

Turnover was 138 million shares, compared with Thursday's 162 million. The index was trading higher in the morning, before the central bank announcement triggered the slide.

The central bank was widely expected to slash its key interest rate by 150 basis points in Saturday's policy review, to 12.5 percent, taking account of falling inflation and the need to help the economy bounce back from recession.