KARACHI, July 12: The CFS investment on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week suffered a modest fall of 1.64 per cent or Rs503 million at Rs30.2 billion as demand for fresh credit lines remained slow owing to prevailing sluggishness in the share business.

Stock analyst Ayub Ansari said majority of investors kept to the sidelines amid increasing risk perceptions, barring some leading ones who played safe.

However, on the other hand the CFS rates posted a fresh modest increase of 55 basis points at 15.05 per cent as lenders were a bit apprehensive about the safety of their leveraged funds in a falling stock market and uncertain future political outlook, he added.

The top five borrowers of the CFS funds were led by Arif Habib Securities, Pakistan Oilfields, National Bank, Adamjee Insurance and D.G. Khan Cement, their cumulative share being around 45 per cent.

The open interest on the forward counter in the ruling July contracts, however, showed a modest rise of 0.6 per cent at Rs8.5 billion but ban on short selling since June 23, 2008, pushed the future spreads to a highest ever level of 89.4 per cent at the weekend, reflecting a sharp difference between the prevailing ready and future prices.