Pakistan stocks slide owing to dismal earnings outlook.

Bears returned to the bourse once again on Friday and pushed the KSE-100 index down by 343 points owing to a dismal corporate earnings outlook. The World Bank's draft report, which downgraded Pakistan's ranking on almost all fiscal management-related indicators, contributed to the market's fall.

Earlier, trading began on a negative note and the KSE-100 index followed a downward trajectory, ending the first session with a loss of 160 points. The second session extended the losses and the day closed in the red. At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 343.13 points, or 1.06%, to settle at 32,103.27.

The technology sector followed banks in terms of volumes with trading in 11.6 million shares. Cement stocks trailed technology shares with trading in 8.2 million shares. DG Khan Cement hit...