KSE - "One out Five best performing Markets in the World"

[A1Kaid]

Pakistan’s market is booming


April 14 2013 at 02:03pm
By Reuters




Pakistan’s chaotic financial heart, Karachi, is home to 18 million people, Taliban bombers, contract killers, and one of the world’s most successful stock markets.

With 49 percent returns last year, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) was one of the five best performing markets in the world. Now it is seeking a foreign partner to buy a stake and take over management of a market that has risen threefold over the past four years.

At least some of that performance came on the back of a government amnesty that allowed people holding undeclared assets or “black money” to invest it freely in the market. And the relatively illiquid market has also been vulnerable to manipulation.

But government officials say the market’s success highlights the economic potential of a country better known for spiralling sectarian violence, the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, crippling power cuts and entrenched corruption.

The market’s benchmark index continues to soar to record highs: up 10.34 percent so far this year, fuelled in part by expectations May elections will mark the nation’s first transfer of power from one democratic government to another. For foreigners, an 11 percent depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the dollar since the start of the year has offset those gains.

“Pakistan has a lot to offer investors and this is our chance to show it,” KSE chairman Nadeem Naqvi said. He plans to embark on a series of roadshows for potential foreign partners that will take him to London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong in the coming months.

Many of the companies listed on the KSE offer double-digit returns, low stock prices and resilient business models in this frontier market with a population of 180 million. The index still has an attractive price:earnings ratio of 8.50 despite the soaring returns of the past few years.

Pakistan has a 4 percent weighting in the MSCI Frontiers market index and has become somewhat of a discovery for foreign investors chasing new markets and yields.

Excerpt: Pakistan

 

[A.Rafay]

In this year alone KSE Has broken many records of high performance, it is now all time high in its history!

 

[JohnSeb]

Good for Pakistan

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Then a great deal of FII and individual investment can be expected to enter Pakistan now.