Mutual funds survive market fall in August

Stock market keeps funds under pressure.

KARACHI: The mutual funds industry showed resilience with its assets standing in the same range at Rs259 billion in August, surviving a fall in the stock market.

The equity market dropped by 9.2 per cent during the month and kept equity-related funds in negative territory, according to an InvestCap research note.

The major decline was witnessed in index tracker funds that fell 10% followed by Islamic equity funds that decreased 4% and equity funds that dropped 3%.

The equity market’s decline is the major reason for the fall, along with one closed-end fund namely Al-Meezan Mutual Fund, which was converted into an open-end fund during the month.

In the eight months of 2011, the size of the mutual fund industry appreciated by 16%.

Money market funds appreciated by 4% to close at Rs94 billion in August. In the eight months, the category recorded an appreciation of 89%.

The equity funds category performed well and provided better return than that by the Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark 100-share index.

This category posted a negative return of five per cent against decline of 9.2% in the benchmark share index, outperforming the index by 4.2%.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st,  2011.