CFS rates touch two-year low

Published August 26, 2007

KARACHI, Aug 25: The CFS rates on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week dipped to a two-year low of 10.66 per cent as demand for funds sharply fell amid investors’ reluctance to make fresh commitments in an uncertain market.

It showed a modest improvement at 10.76 per cent in the weekend session against 10.80 per cent a week earlier, but the future outlook appears to be bearish in the backdrop of political uncertainty, a leading analyst Khurram Schehzad said.

He said the more significant feature was that the CFS investment also fell by 14 per cent to Rs45.86bn as compared to Rs53.64 billion the previous week as leading shares received massively battering on the stock market.

Bulk of the CFS funding totalling Rs21.15 billion or 46 per cent went to the credit of Pakistan Petroleum, OGDC, National Bank and PSO, he said.

Open interest in future contract was quoted further lower by 13pc at Rs8.03bn as compared to last week’s Rs9.33 billion.