March 19, 2006	Sunday	Safar 18, 1427

KARACHI, March 18: After having dropped below the upper limit a week earlier, the CFS investment on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week rose to Rs24.5 billion as the demand for funds increased in a bull market.

The KSE 100-share index rose by 8.5 per cent or 850 points during the last four sessions of the week, which encouraged investors to seek more funds, analysts at a leading research house said.

The CFS rate, therefore, remained pegged at the previous level of 18 per cent, reflecting a big pick up in demand for more credit lines after punters and speculators re-entered in a rising market, they said.

But the notable feature of the week was that open interest and spreads on the futures market showed a sharp decline. The former fell by Rs3.11 billion at RsRs.15.54 billion as compared to previous Rs18.65 billion, they added.

After having fallen into a single digit at one stage, the future spreads finally finished around 14 per cent from the previous week’s 17 per cent.