Citywire: High hopes for Pakistan fund but beware the high risks : Telegraph

By Matt Goodburn

Last Updated: 12:56am BST 11/06/2008

Global markets have been battered in the past few months due to the credit crisis, but investors could consider a new fund investing in Pakistan, to be run by specialist Asian investment house Dalton Strategic Partnership (DSP).

London-based DSP is launching the first Pakistan– focused equities fund for British investors on June 19 in a joint venture with Karachibased KASB, a financial services company established in 1952 and five per cent owned by Merrill Lynch.

Until a month ago, Pakistan had been a relatively safe haven from global market turmoil, not least in India, which has attracted a lot of interest from British investors. In the year to the end of April, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) returned 7.4 per cent, comparing favourably to many other indices.

For example, the Indian Sensex had a 15 per cent slump, the FTSE 100 a six per cent fall, and the US Dow Jones a four per cent drop over the same period. But in May the KSE had a 20 per cen fall, which DSP said it had been expecting after its recent good run.

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