The Karachi Stock Exchange has clarified that due to human error, a mistake occurred in the calculation of ex-bonus price of Arif Habib Securities Limited (AHSL), which, after adjustment of the bonus, was calculated at Rs 441.82, instead of Rs 243.
In a press release the KSE said that Arif Habib Securities Limited (AHSL), a component of KSE-100 Index, had announced bonus at the rate of 122.2222 percent at the time of sending their financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2006. The book closure for determination of the entitlement of this bonus issue was notified from November 20 to November 26, 2006.
Accordingly, the scrip was to traded on ex-bonus basis from Monday, November 20, 2006. The ex-bonus price of the scrip, on the basis of the 122.2222 percent bonus, should have been Rs 243. But, due to human error, a mistake occurred in the calculation of ex-bonus price of the scrip, which after adjustment of the bonus, was calculated at Rs 441.82 instead of Rs 243.
The trading started with this incorrect price of Rs 441.82 at 9.45 am, and continued for about 5 minutes. During this period, 153 trades were recorded in this scrip. However, when the error was identified, trading in the scrip was immediately suspended in order to avoid further trading in the scrip with incorrect price.
The trading remained suspended for about one-and-a-half hours and was thereafter resumed on the basis of correct bonus adjusted price of Rs 243. However, as the mistake was rectified during the trading hours, the impact of this computation mistake had already been absorbed by the index at the close.