KARACHI: The stock market underwent a relentless battering in the last trading session of the week on Friday as the benchmark index dropped to a record low for the year.

Undermined by endless political drama and concern over the mounting trade deficit as well as persistently falling foreign reserves, the KSE-100 index dropped from the word go. It plunged almost 750 points and hit an intra-day low of 39,478.05 points.

Market watch: Index hits one-year low in intra-day trading

However, as trading began after the midday break, the index posted a decent recovery with investors coming forward to pick stocks at attractive valuations. Despite this change in trend, the index finished deeply in the red.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index registered a decline of 390.75 points or 0.97% to finish at 39,846.78 points.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 153 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 137 million.

Market watch: Losing streak continues in volatile stock trading

Shares of 382 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 88 stocks closed higher, 282 declined while 12 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.1 billion.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 13.4 million shares, losing Rs0.14 to close at Rs6.16. It was followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 8.1 million shares, losing Rs3.24 to close at Rs66.31 and TRG Pakistan with 7.9 million shares, losing Rs0.84 to close at Rs32.50.

The post Market watch: Stocks hit the lowest for 2017, fall below 40,000 appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Market watch: Stocks hit the lowest for 2017, fall below 40,000

KARACHI: Pakistan’s main striker and former Sacramento Republic FC player Kaleemullah believes Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) suspension as a FIFA member association will hit the player the hardest, even though they had nothing to do with it.

Hayat blames Sharif family for PFF’s plight

“FIFA suspended Pakistan because of third party intervention; it’s embarrassing and it’s shameful — all because PFF officials couldn’t sit together to solve the issue,” Kaleemullah told The Express Tribune. “It’s heartbreaking because the PFF divided into two factions in 2015 only due to the egos of the officials involved. They don’t really care much since it’s the players who have to suffer. It has been two-and-a-half years now since Pakistan played any international tournament. We have had no premier football league or even a second division league. These past few years have been a complete disaster.”

Pakistan played their last international fixture on March 23, 2016 against Yemen in the 2018 World Cup qualifying round, which they lost.

FIFA suspends Pakistan Football Federation

Kaleemullah became the first Pakistani player to be signed a United Soccer League club during this time. However he believes it becomes very tough for the players to promote themselves if they aren’t playing in domestic tournaments.

“What can we show the clubs? People ask us about our national team’s performance — when we played our last international match and why we don’t have a professional league. We don’t have an answer for that,” said Kaleemullah.

Hayat’s extensions ends, PFF’s problems don’t

The 24-year-old said that even before the 2015 controversy, the sport wasn’t making much progress.

Throughout this time, the PFF never strived to make even a single international standard football stadium in the country.

“Even before government interference in 2015, we can’t say our federation did much for the sport,’ said Kaleemullah. “Neither stadiums nor academies were developed and the professional league continued in the same way. The entire region is progressing; Afghanistan and Bangladesh are improving leaps and bounds while India has gotten so far ahead that they are hosting the FIFA U17 World Cup. The PFF, meanwhile, has done nothing for the sport.”

Kaleemullah urged FIFA to jot down a roadmap leading up to new PFF elections rather than leaving the sport at the mercy of the officials.

The post Kaleemullah blasts PFF’s performance appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Kaleemullah blasts PFF’s performance

Unprovoked firing by Indian forces from across the Line of Control (LoC) injured a woman in Rawalakot area on Friday.

Express News reported that Indian forces targeted civilian population in Abbaspur, Poonch sector, injuring 46-year-old Safina Bibi.

The Pakistan Army also retaliated to the Indian aggression.

Civilian martyred, two injured in Indian firing along LoC

It should be noted that for the past few months, Indian forces have been targeting civilian areas across the border in Pakistan. The largely unprovoked firing has left scores of people dead and many others injured.

On September 24, a civilian was martyred and two others were injured in firing from across the border.

“Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing of small arms and mortars along LoC in Nikyal sector,” the ISPR said in a statement. “A 22-year-old girl embraced shahadat while two [other] civilians were injured.”

The post Woman injured in Indian firing at LoC appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Woman injured in Indian firing at LoC

As judge Muhammad Bashir entered the courtroom today (Friday) for the hearing of Maryam Nawaz and Capt Safdar, a number of lawyers forced their way into the accountability court. The lawyers reportedly surrounded the judges’ bench claiming that they were manhandled by security forces outside the court and kept from entering the courtroom.

According to the lawyers, the law enforcers manhandled them even when they showed them orders of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The court was interrupted by loud cries from the lawyers who were demanding quick action against the police and other security officials deployed in and around the Federal Judicial Complex.

PML-N’s Capt Safdar seeks ban on hiring Ahmadis in military and judiciary

Maryam and Safdar were present in the courtroom when the protesting lawyers barged into the courtroom and turned it into a fish market. When the lawyers did not calm down despite repeated calls from the judge to bring order in the courtroom, Justice Bashir went into his chamber and ordered the Inspector General of Police to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit a report before the court.

In reaction, a prosecution team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which was reportedly attacked by lawyers affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday morning outside an Islamabad-based accountability court, has submitted a report of the incident to the bureau headquarters.

But people have taken to Twitter to react to this incident which occurred in the morning. PAT Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri stated that the security of the accountability court should be handed to the army.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has accused the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of adopting destructive tactics against the judiciary to shun the accountability of the Sharif family.

Here’s what the rest said:

PM to seek ‘explanation’ from Capt Safdar over tirade against Ahmadiyya community

The post Twitter reacts after lawyers scuffle outside accountability court appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Twitter reacts after lawyers scuffle outside accountability court

A Swiss Air Force F/A 18 Hornet fighter jet releases flares during a flight demonstration of the Swiss Air Force over the Axalp in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. PHOTO: REUTERS

Shia clerics study at al-Gharawiya school run by al-Hawza al-Ilmiyya in Najaf, Iraq. PHOTO: REUTERS

People watch as Hoa Binh hydroelectric power plant opens the flood gates after a heavy rainfall caused by a tropical depression in Hoa Binh province, outside Hanoi, Vietnam. PHOTO: REUTERS

Men collect recyclables at the landfill in Islamabad, Pakistan. PHOTO: REUTERS

Boys watch atop the roof of their house on the Turkish-Syrian border line in Reyhanli, Hatay province, Turkey. PHOTO: REUTERS

In this aerial view, a burned neighbourhood is seen in Santa Rosa, California. PHOTO: AFP

An image of a map of China and the words “welcoming the 19th Party Congress” created by different kinds of rice in a paddy in Shanghai. PHOTO: AFP

A Palestinian shepherd herds his sheep on a hill near the Palestinian village of Duma in the West Bank. PHOTO: AFP

A worker cleans the windows of a building in Nantes. PHOTO: AFP

Syrian Fashion Designer Manal Ajaj (C) poses on the catwalk with male models wearing Syrian Army uniforms at the end of her fashion show “Jasmin Godess” in Beirut. PHOTO: AFP

The cremation site for Thailand’s late king Bhumibol Adulayadej’s is reflected on a lotus pool. PHOTO: AFP

A boat is seen at sunset on Lake Geneva from Chexbres, western Switzerland. PHOTO: AFP

A just married couple from Asia pose for their photographer on the Charles Bridge on the early morning in Prague. PHOTO: AFP

A Pakistani painter gives the finishing touches to the bodywork of a truck at a workshop in Peshawar. PHOTO: AFP

The post Pictures of the day: October 13, 2017 appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Pictures of the day: October 13, 2017