May 04, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 27, 1429

KARACHI, May 3: The CFS rates on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week showed a sharp fall of 146 basis points at 12.05 points as demand for fresh credit lines were on the lower side of the weekly average.

“Owing to conflicting news from the political front, notably with regard to reinstatement of judiciary by the major coalition partners, investors decided to keep to the sidelines in a falling market rather than making fresh commitments,” said a leading analyst Khurram Schehzad.

He said about 500 points fall in the KSE 100-share index reflects that there were more sellers than buyers, which caused the decline in the CFS rates.

CFS (continuous funding system) investment also showed a modest decline of 0.31 per cent or Rs.169.24m at Rs54.4 billion, well below the increased ceiling limit.

About 48 per cent of the CFS investment was shared by the top five scrips, including Pakistan Oilfields, National Bank, Arif Habib Securities, Pakistan Petroleum and Engro Chemicals Pakistan.

But on the other hand, open interest on the forward counter showed a sharp rise of 23 per cent at Rs4.60 billion to Rs24.2 billion from the previous Rs19.6 billion, he said.

Future spreads also posted an increase of 77 basis points at 9.50 per cent from the previous week’s 8.73 per cent as the stock market remained under pressure because of negative news from the political front.