Conventional equity funds echo impressive gains made by capital markets

February 11, 2019 (MLN): Pakistan’s capital markets have observed an applaud-able rebound during the first month of the current Calendar Year (CY19) as the benchmark KSE – 100 index marks a mammoth leap of 3,820 points as of February 8, 2019.

The index kick-started from 37,066 points on December 31, 2018, and moved in the positive direction on its first day of CY19. From there the index continued to gather steady momentum until it reached an overall high of 41,766 points towards the latter end of period.

On February 8, 2019, the benchmark index stood 10.31% higher than its position at the end of last year.

Mirroring this upturn magnificently, all the 27 equity funds showed remarkable improvements during this period, as all their Net Asset Value (NAV)’s stepped up by over 5%.

Moreover, 15 of these funds outperformed the KSE – 100 index with over 9% increments in their NAV’s.

Standing upright at the top of this inverted pyramid is UBL Financial Sector Fund (UBLFSF) with its NAV at Rs.90.01, 12.86% higher than it was (Rs.90.78) at the end of CY18. However, this could be attributed to the low-base in comparison to other funds’ NAV’s which are quite higher than Rs.90.

Keeping that in mind, Atlas Stock Market Fund (ATLASSMF) has shown the biggest improvement in absolute terms as it emerges as the fund that not only outperformed the 100 index but also has its NAV at Rs.610.20 marking an improvement of 12.09% over the period.

Other funds that are amongst the top outperformers are HBL Stock Fund (HBLSF) with its NAV (Rs.106.44) 12.38% higher, Alfalah GHP Alpha Fund (AGHPAF) +12.26%, Alfalah GHP Stock Fund (AGHPSF) +12.2% and ABL Stock Fund (ABLSF) +12.13%.  

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