Temirbank, one of Kazakhstan's largest banks, has qualified for Listing A status on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) where its common and preferred shares will be traded beginning 26 October. Temirbank was primarily established to service railway business. However, since privatisation in 1996, it has had clients in different sectors of economy. During the past three years, the bank has been performing at break-even level. The bank's 1997 financial statement was audited by Price Waterhouse (Almaty office). As at 1 October, Temirbank had gross assets worth KZT 4.6bn (some USD 57m) while its net equity was KZT 1.3bn (USD 16.2m). The bank's authorised capital totals USD 12.3m; it has 27,021 shareholders. (Reuters)

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No trades were reported by KASE last week. Between 9 and 15 October, the OTC market witnessed 40 transactions for preferred shares in Kazakhtelecom with prices varying from USD 9.88 to USD 12.34 per share. Several deals were closed for common and preferred shares in Kazakhmys. The average price of common shares decreased by 34.43% to KZT 400 (USD 4.9) since 2 October when these shares were last traded. Preferred shares in AktobeMunaiGas were traded once when 800 shares were sold for USD 5,168.