April 23, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1427

KARACHI, April 22: The weighted average stock future spread on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week suffered a sharp decline to 9.8 per cent from the previous peak level of 21.2 per cent.

Analysts at a leading brokerage and research house attributed the fall to the beginning of the rollover week from Monday for the maturing April settlements.

“Stakeholders will try to square their positions after indulging in hasty selling with a view to keep their slate clean,” they said adding ”the terribly volatile performance of the KSE index was also caused by this factor.”

The open interest also showed a fall of Rs2 billion at 18.6 billion as compared to 20.6 billion a week earlier as some of the investors squared their future positions, they added.

According to them weighted average rate as well as investment on the other hand were maintained around their previous week’s upper limits at 17.4 per cent and Rs24.5 billion.