On September 16, the common shares of Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan (HSBK) were added to Listing A, the top tier of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). As of September 7, 1998, the HSBK had an authorised capital totalling KZT 3,011,900,000 (some USD 38.3m). According to its financial statement of July 1, 1998, the bank's gross assets totalled KZT 46.6bn (USD 605.6m) while its net equity was KZT 3.7bn (USD 48m). The bank had a net income of KZT 51.8bn (USD 673.2m). In three emissions, HSBK has issued a total of 30,119,000 common shares with a par value of KZT 100 (USD 1.25). The bank has been performing at a break-even level for the past three years. An audit of HSBK's activities was conducted by Deloitte & Touche. The HSBK shares will be traded on the KASE beginning September 30, 1998.(Panorama)

Based on an audit performed by the international accounting firm Arthur Andersen and submitted to the KASE, both the common and preferred shares in the Shymkent Oil Refinery were upgraded to Listing A from Listing B on September 16.

***

The KASE hasn't witnessed any transactions for two weeks. All the bids that entered the KASE quotation trading system during that period were for sale. There was no demand at any price.

Last week, the OTC market was not active either. The only trades made were for common shares in the Halyk Savings Bank and for preferred shares of Kazakhtelecom. The traded volumes were USD 8,892 and USD 5,933, respectively. The KS index stood at 103.0 during the entire week.