October 08, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 14, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 7: The average CFS rates on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week showed a modest rise as bulk of the financing was done around 14.3 per cent as the demand for funds remained on the higher side in a rising market.

Owing to larger demand for funds in a bull market, CFS financing was again maintained on the upper limit for the second week in a row at Rs24.5 billion after resuming lending at Rs23.7 billion.

“The fact that both the CFS funding and rates finished at the upper limit reflects investors confidence in the market strength,” says a leading analyst, adding “the negative sentiment seems to have driven away at least for the near-term”.

The open interest in the ruling future contracts showed an expansion at Rs8.96 billion as compared to previous week’s Rs7.59 billion, reflecting heavy fresh commitments by the investors.

Although volume on the forward counter suffered a fall of seven million shares at 51m shares from the previous 58m shares, spreads in the future contracts remained modest at 8.44 per cent.