Floor removal : KSE seeks more time, but SECP says ‘no’

[Naveed Yaseen]

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange has sought further time from Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to remove the floor placed under equity prices.

The SECP had asked all three stock exchanges of the country on Thursday to remove the floor on Monday, December 15.

Sources said the KSE had communicated to the SECP that without resolving the problem of outstanding CFS positions of close to Rs 11 billion, removing the floor would cause many brokers to default. However, the SECP did not respond positively to the request.

On the other hand, the NCCPL has also turned down the request of KSE for rolling over of the CFS positions for ninety days. The KSE board of directors had requested the NCCPL to roll over the Rs 11 billion outstanding positions in CFS.

According to a notification issued by the KSE, the floor will be removed by December 15, 2005, Monday, with normal trading parameters including application of standard up-side and down-side 5 percent circuit breakers rule in place.

All three indices have remained almost unchanged since August 28, 2008 when the KSE members decided to place floor under equity prices. The KSE 100-index has been standing near 9,187.10 points, KSE 30-index around 9,928.33 points and KMI index about 11,224.18 points. staff report

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2008_pg5_7