KARACHI, Jan 22: The board of directors of the Karachi Stock Exchange on Monday re-elected Zaffar A. Khan as its chairman for a second one-year term. In a marathon meeting, the board discussed various pending issues. Sources close to the talks said that the salient features of the discussions were: A consensus view was found regarding the fact that demutualisation plan should be fully implemented by December 31, 2007, as agreed with the SECP.

Secondly, it was suggested that the margin now being held from brokers against trading by institutions, be done away with. The members (only Zaffar A. Khan was participating in the meeting from among non-member directors for 2007) argued that such margins had placed extra burden on the stock brokers.

The participants were also said to have expressed the desire for a waiver of margin on institutional sales, so as not to impact the Feb 1 date set for the start of client level netting.

The KSE management was also directed to bring up the 30-60-90 days products as quickly as possible. “The plan and parameters of such products had already been prepared and handed down by the previous board,” said a member.

The board also expressed the urgency of drafting budget proposals for the next fiscal year (2007-08) and forward the same to the government.