KARACHI, Aug 13: The weighted average badla rates on the Karachi Stock Exchange fell from the peak level of 17.9 per cent to 15.10 per cent during the last week in the absence of demand for fresh credit lines in a falling market.

“There were lenders but not many borrowers, as investors squared their positions and did not opt for badla financing,” says an analyst at a leading brokerage and research house.

The market also witnessed the end of previous week’s phenomenon when borrowers almost queued for the badla facility and the lenders have resorted to “first-come-first-served”, they added.

Investment on the badla counter also suffered a modest decline of 2.5 per cent at Rs11.7bn as compared to Rs12bn a week earlier, at which level it is capped by the KSE on July 15, 2005.

Badla rates also suffered an identical fall of 140 basis points at 10.4 per cent from the previous 11.8 per cent, while investment fell to Rs0.78bn from the last week’s Rs0.91bn.

But the largest decline was noted in the spread of future contracts to 2.12 per cent from the previous 10.6 per cent because prices of a couple of scrips were lower as compared to their counterparts in the ready section.