KARACHI, Oct 8: The weighted average rates under the Continuous Funding System (CFS) on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week showed an increase of 160 basis points at 17.6 per cent as compared to 16.00 per cent a week earlier.

Analysts at Invest Capital attributed the early rise to upper limit of 18 per cent as the CFS transactions in Pakistan Oilfields were carried out before trading on spot basis started.

The investment under CFS remained capped at Rs25 billion for the third week in a row and as a result total official leverage through it did not show any change over the previous week, they said.

But on the other hand, the average CFS rates on the Lahore Stock Exchange showed a sharp increase of 600 basis points at 28.1 per cent as against the previous 22.1 per cent, while total investment amounted to Rs2.3 billion, being the upper limit.

The open interest in stock futures on the forward counter maintained its rising trend and amounted to Rs12 billion as compared to Rs8.4 billion a week earlier.

“The sharp increase is reminiscent of early stages of the last March massive rally,” they said. “October futures are virtually following that lead as was reflected in their maiden week trading.”