Pakistan Mutual Funds Soaring to New Heights

A three-year bull run in the Pakistani stock market has encouraged local asset managers to launch the first batch of capital guaranteed mutual funds to draw retail investors. United Asset Management Co., a unit of United Bank Ltd., the country’s fourth biggest bank, plans to launch a closed-end three-year fund in the first half of the year. The new funds also come following sharp gains in the stock market, which rose 39 percent last year, 65 percent in 2003 and 112 percent in 2002…