March 12, 2006	Sunday	Safar 11, 1427

KARACHI, March 11: After staying around the upper limit for the last six months, CFS investment on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week suffered a sharp fall of Rs2 billion at Rs23.1 billion owing to a massive fall in the KSE 100-share index.

During the last week, the KSE 100-share index suffered a massive fall of Rs255bn in the market capitalization and in turn has a negative impact on the investors’ demand for fresh credit lines, analysts at a leading research and brokerage house said.

The average weighted CFS rate also fell modestly for an identical reasons, at 17.8 per cent as compared to 18 per cent a week earlier, they added. CFS investment on the Lahore Stock Exchange was also on the lower side at Rs1.6bn well below the upper limit of Rs2.3bn. The CFS rate also fell to 17 per cent.

Analysts say the prevailing turmoil on the KSE amid falling share values has also negative impact on the open interest on the futures counter where it fell to Rs18.65bn from the previous Rs19.25bn in line with the fall of 8.2 per cent in the KSE index.