Karachi - Pakistan's stocks Friday plunged across the board on foreign selling pressures following a decline in the country's evaluative ranking by the Standard & Poor's (S&P) credit rating agency, analysts said.

The key KSE-100 Index was down by 246.98 points to close at 14,232.89 points around 1.7 per cent less than 14,479.87 points on Thursday's close.

The S&P on Thursday revised Pakistan's long-term currency debt sovereign rating to B from B+, citing expanding fiscal and external imbalances in the background of volatile political setting. The agency also reduced long-term local currency rating to BB- from BB.

"There was selling pressure from foreign investors who are nervous over the S&P's rate cutting," Atif Malik, an analyst at JS Global said.

"The negative outlook reflects our assessment that the sovereign's vulnerabilities may accentuate further, given that the emergence of a stable, cohesive and effective physical environment needed to tackle mounting macroeconomic imbalances doesn't seem to be at hand," said the S&P's statement from London. (dpa)