KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks opened on a bearish note as the KSE-100 index was down 32.13 points, or 0.07 per cent, in the first hour of trading on Monday.

The Pakistan equity market witnessed a roller-coaster ride on Friday with the first session posting impressive gains in the oversold market; however, the second session witnessed correction given free-fall of the local currency. The rupee instability, regulator’s approval of hike in the power tariff and uncertainty ahead of the approval over terms of the resumed IMF programme played a catalytic role in the bearish close at the bourse on Friday.

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Analysts said that the stocks today opened under pressure on the rupee instability and surging government bond yields. Foreign outflows, hike in the industrial power tariff, and uncertainty over resumption of the IMF programme played a catalytic role in the bearish run at the market.

The speculation that the State Bank of Pakistan could potentially hike the policy rate by another 125bps and push the interest rates to double-digit is also a driving factor for the bearish trend at the local bourse.