KARACHI, Jan 12: The CFS investment on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week fell below the Rs50bn-barrier at Rs48bn, showing a decline of two per cent owing to slow activity in the share market.

“The Thursday’s suicide attack in Lahore triggered selling on a number of counters as investors were inclined to liquidate their long positions rather than making fresh commitments,” said Muhammad Ali, an analyst at the leading research house, adding that falling demand for more funds from investors pushed the figure further lower.

As a result, CFS rates also showed a sympathetic fall of 36 basis points at 10.87 per cent for an identical reason, he added.About 44 per cent of the CFS investment went to the credit of five most liquid shares, notably National Bank, Pakistan Petroleum, OGDC, Pakistan Oilfields and Arif Habib Securities.

But on the other hand open interest in future contracts rose to Rs9.3bn as compared to Rs8.3bn last week, while future spreads also increased by 400 basis points to close at 11.05 per cent.