CFS rates fall on slow demand for funds

Published December 9, 2007

KARACHI, Dec 8: The CFS rates on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week fell by 116 basis points at 11.3pc as demand for fresh financing showed a considerable decline at the fag-end of the week.

Analysts said since the re-emergence of foreign buying on selective counters during the last couple of weeks, the demand for local funds fell having a negative impact on the prevailing rates.

The bull-run added well over 800 points or five per cent to the KSE 100-share index during the last two weeks which was sustained by the interplay of market forces including alternate bouts of buying and selling, they observed.

But on the other hand the CFS investment showed a fresh increase of 2.1pc at Rs54.5 billion as compared to Rs53.4 billion the previous week as investors needed more funds to invest in selected shares, having potential of smart capital gains.

Well over 48 per cent of the total CFS investment went to the credit of OGDC, Pakistan Petroleum, Pakistan Oilfields and National Bank, Ambreen Jiwani, analyst at a leading research house, said.

The total open interest on the futures counter posted a sharp fall of 32pc during the week after the matured November settlements were rung off the board and was last quoted at Rs10.81 billion as compared to Rs15.86 billion, she added.

But on the other hand open interest in the ruling December settlements rose by 5.3 per cent at Rs10.27 billion. Future spreads also fell by 343 basis points at 5.2 per cent from the previous 8.61 per cent, she said.