After two consecutive months of decline, KSE returned to its investor-friendly days in October with the benchmark index climbing 6.1 percent. As foreign selling continued in the country’s largest bourse, mutual funds were the biggest net buyers in the month, after being net sellers throughout the third calendar quarter.
All twenty conventional equity funds finished in the green in October, with an average return of 5.76 percent in the 30-day period. MCBs Pakistan Stock Market Fund gained the most – 8.3 percent, while PICIC Stock Fund had the smallest return – 3.2 percent. In the past 90 days, however, equity funds returns are still in the red, with an average loss of 3 percent. The KSE eased 7 percent in September and 3 percent in August.
Shariah-compliant equity funds were not much different, boasting 5.1 percent return in October, and a loss of 2.2 percent since August. For reference, the KSE Meezan Index (KMI-30) finished 6.1 percent up last month and 2 percent down in the three months ending October.
Income and money market funds – the safest and most popular funds for savers – did not have a story to tell. Their returns, characterized by small deviations, were small yet steady. Money market funds – the safer of the two, averaged 0.48 percent return in the recently concluded month while 28 income funds produced a group means of 0.73 percent in the period. PICIC Cash Fund (0.57 percent) and Askari Sovereign Yield Enhancer (1.22 percent) were top performers in the respective categories.
Among the 167 open-ended funds in Pakistan, perhaps the most impressive in October was Faysal Balanced Growth Fund, boasting 19.1 percent return in the month compared to a group (balanced funds) mean of 6 percent.
This article was originally published on November 06, 2015 in the Business Recorder (BR) research.
