October 08, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 14, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 7: National Investment Trust (NIT) — Pakistan’s largest mutual fund — posted Net Asset Value (NAV) of its unit at Rs46.69 at September 30, showing increase of 8.40 per cent, from Rs43.07 at the close of previous quarter on June 30 (ex-dividend).

In a statement issued on the conclusion of the meeting of its board of directors on Saturday, the fund claimed that the NAV had outperformed benchmark KSE-100 index by a margin of 3.17 per cent; the index having increased by 5.24 per cent during the period under review.

NIT stated that net income earned by the fund during the first quarter ended Sept 30, amounted to Rs943 million which translated into earning per unit of Rs0.60.

“It may be mentioned here that the net income of Rs5,829 million earned by the fund in the corresponding three months of last year included capital gain of Rs5,128 million earned through sale of strategic holding of National Refinery Limited (NRL) by the Privatisation Commission”, chairman NIT Tariq Iqbal Khan observed and added that net income of the fund would have depicted an increase of 35 per cent in the period under review if the capital gain of NRL earned during the corresponding quarter of previous year were to be set aside.

Similarly, capital gains realised during the first quarter of the previous year stood at Rs5,228 million, which included Rs5,128 million on account of NRL. Excluding that one-time gain, capital gains registered a growth of 63.14 per cent for the period under review to Rs155 million, from Rs95 million in the same time last year.

Dividend income of the fund amounted to Rs951 million compared to Rs716 million in the corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 32.85 per cent.

Total amount of fund under management of NIT grew to Rs73.09 billion at Sept 30, from Rs64.30 billion as on June 30, reflecting a growth of 13.68 per cent.

The sale of NIT units (including CIP) during the quarter under review rose by 125 per cent to Rs3,742 million compared to sale amounting to Rs1,665 million in the corresponding period of last year.