Archives of Capital markets

1. KSE: much too soon to confirm a break-out

   2011-04-25 06:27:42 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   After nearly 40 days of lifelessness, excitement is slowly crawling back in at the KSE. As it turns out, select buying by foreign and local investors has pushed the benchmark index to a level which is seen ‘pointing towards a recovery’. The KSE-100 ended at 11,954 points last week – its highest since March 14 – after marking an intra-week high of 12,023 points, which was also its bigg...

2. National Investment Trust

   2011-04-12 05:40:54 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   The National Investment (Unit) Trust is getting bigger and bigger. Boosted by growth in dividend income along with Rs1.45 billion earned from the difference between unit selling and buying price (element income), the country’s leading and oldest mutual fund saw profits jump 29 percent in the first nine months of current fiscal year. As its fund managers remained focused increasing their holdin...

3. KSE: Mise en place for a whip up

   2011-04-11 05:32:00 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   The countdown to budget FY12 has begun. And along with it should come the typical pre-budget uncertainty at the Karachi equity bourse, as is usually the case every year. The difference between KSE’s historical pre-budget gyration and this year, however, is that this time around, the signs are in, a bit earlier than usual. Normally, the KSE-100 sees a strong first quarter on account of health c...

4. Towards debt market development

   2011-04-07 07:19:54 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   To say that Pakistan does not have a vibrant debt market would perhaps be an overstatement. A more appropriate expression would be that it’s ‘practically non-existent’. The reasons why this view has gained currency over the years are many; market prices of debt instruments are often different from broker rates, there are valuation issues, and the listing of corporate debt takes a lot of ti...

5. KSE: Looking for a direction

   2011-03-28 07:06:37 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   A change of hands is taking place at the Karachi Stock Exchange. After months of reliance on foreign portfolio to drive KSE-100’s rally, the dilly-dallying on the part of foreigners has now forced the market to think. The phase is marked by price weakness, falling volatility and decreasing trading volume. KSE data show that the benchmark index slipped marginally during the week ending Marc...

6. KSE bows down to FIPI outflows

   2011-03-21 06:57:22 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   Talk about disappointment. Just when the bulls at Karachi’s equity market were expected to make further inroads by regaining their grounds, they seem to have drained out of energy. KSE-100’s movement last week also smacked the theory that all good news is boon for the market. Why else would the market pay no heed to the improvement in the large scale manufacturing index that turned pos...

7. PIBs back in the game

   2011-03-18 07:04:10 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   Buoyed by signs of interest rate stability, the market has been witnessing improvement in the appetite for long tenor government papers of late. With fears of price risk assuaging in the bond market, the sixth PIB auction of the current fiscal year, held two days back, saw participation more than thrice the size of the pre-auction target amount of around Rs15 billion. This is starkly h...

8. Paradigm shift at KSE?

   2011-03-07 05:24:45 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   KSE-100’s performance last week had a strange similarity with Afridi's World Cup 2011 squad: just when you expected the ground to cave in completely, the prices, as did Pakistani team, bounced back. After posting a nearly 7 percent decline in the preceding week, KSE-100 made a modest comeback of 65 points last Monday, as foreign portfolio investors poured in $2.2 million on a net basis...

9. Market for sukuk goes ravenous

   2011-03-04 09:50:18 GMT : (BR Research - Pakistan Macroeconomics/Capital markets)

   The rising popularity of Islamic banking in Pakistan is providing the necessary impetus for the development of Islamic sovereign instrument market. In light of the growing deposit base with Islamic banks amid limited Shariah compliant investment avenues, the third Ijara Sukuk auction of the current fiscal year remained well-covered. The government raised a total of Rs47.5 billion, compared to th...