11 July 2004	Sunday	22 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, July 10: The investment on the carryover market last week showed an impressive increase of Rs3.1 billion owing partly to price flare-up on the stock market and partly to higher volume.

According to figures compiled by a leading local research house, total investment swelled to Rs25.7bn from Rs22.6bn a week earlier as the KSE 100-share index rose by about two per cent.

"An increase in the index is caused by higher equity prices, which obviously raise investment on the carryover market," analysts maintain.

Traded volume on the carryover market over the week was higher at 452m shares from the previous week's 410m shares, an apparent move by the big ones to assess the quantum of negative impact of 10 per cent withholding tax on their weekly business, they said. There is a general perception investor worries about the withholding tax are fading out each day and the market could resume its normal trading during the coming weeks, some others said.

The interesting feature was that carryover rates remained stable around the previous level of 11.2 per cent and the analysts predict they may hover around this level in coming week also.

Investment on the Lahore Stock Exchange posted a modest rise of Rs0.2bn at Rs3.4bn, but carryover rates were slightly higher than the last week at 12.3 per cent from 12.1 per cent.