JPMorgan says Pakistan best bond investment

JPMorgan says Pakistan best bond investment
Monitoring Desk
KARACHI: Despite a continued sense of tension with India and open hostility along the Afghan border, the country's bond market is the best in the world, said JPMorgan Chase & Co. And, the stock market may be the next.
Dollar-denominated debt sold by Pakistan returned 88 per cent so far this year, more than any of the 45 emerging markets tracked by New York-based JPMorgan and 19 developed countries followed by Merrill Lynch. Shares in the Karachi Stock Exchange 100-Index trade at 9.6 times reported earnings, the lowest in Asia excluding Japan, after the gauge rose 21 per cent in 2009.
Pakistan's economy remained under pressure in the past year as suicide attacks all across the country forced investors to go for a selling spree that resulted in a selloff of net $1.1 billion of stocks in the 11 months ended May 31, compared with purchases of $87.2 million of shares a year earlier, according to SBP figures. Chief Executive Officer at National Investment Trust, Tariq Iqbal Khan told a foreign channel, "The worst is over for the Pakistan markets. Values are so good at the moment because the sentiment was so over-depressed. I see some buoyancy returning to the market."