According to the Press release, NIT outperformed all the open-ended mutual funds operating in Pakistan in terms of total return for the period, while it also outperformed benchmark of KSE-100 index by 7.4 percent that appreciated by 17.78 percent during the same period.
As a result of enhanced and active participation of the fund in the stock market, capital gains during the period under review stood at Rs 705 million, showing a remarkable performance of the Trust.
The ongoing strategy of the fund to gradually switch from no/low yield stocks to those where the yield is attractive has started producing good results besides improving the quality of fund's portfolio. This is evident from 24.9 percent growth in dividend income that stood at Rs 1.78 billion as on December 31, 2004 as compared to Rs 1.43 billion in the corresponding period last year.
The income from capital gains and dividend stood at Rs 2.49 billion for the first half year of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 2.50 billion in the corresponding period last year.
This indicates that the fund has been able to maintain its core earnings despite comparatively lower capital gains booked in the first quarter of the financial year 2005 owing to bearish sentiments of the market due to some technical factors.
The net income earned by the fund prior to factoring in the effect of unrealised gains, stood at Rs 2.1 billion that translate into an earning of Rs 1.40/unit for the period ended December 31, 2004.
The sale of NIT units stood at Rs 2 billion (including CIPs) as against redemption of Rs 4.8 billion. The net assets of the fund have also increased to the record level of Rs 58.7 billion as on December 31, 2004 over the amount of Rs 49.5 as on July 1, 2004, depicting a growth of 18.7 percent.