Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index

(KSE-100 Index) is a benchmark used to compare prices over a period of time, companies with the highest market capitalization are selected. However, to ensure full market representation, the company with the highest market capitalization from each sector is also included. This approach has disadvantages to go along with its advantages. The index was launched in late 1991 with a base of 1,000 points. By 2001, it had grown to 1,770 points. By 2005, it had skyrocketed to 9,989 points. It reached a peak of 12,285 in February 2007. The following is a list of 30 companies with the highest weightage in the index and account for over 82.95% of the KSE index as of March 15, 2005:

History
Karachi Stock Exchange is the biggest and most liquid exchange in Pakistan. Furthermore, it has been declared as the Best Performing Stock Market of the World for the year 2002 by Business Week. As at March 15, 2007, 754 companies were listed with the market capitalization of Rs. 3,200.182 billion (US $ 52.00) having listed capital of Rs. 495.968 billion (US $ 8.27 billion). The KSE 100 Index closed at 11,310 on March 15,2007. KSE has been well into the 4th year of being one of the Best Performing Markets of the world as declared by Business Week. Similarly USA Today termed Karachi Stock Exchange as one of the best performing bourses in the world. [1] Foreign buying interest had been very active on the KSE in 2006 and has continued in 2007 so far. According to estimates from the State Bank of Pakistan, foreign investment in capital markets total about US$ 523 Million. According to a research analyst in Pakistan, around 20pc of the total free float in KSE-30 index is held by foreign participants. KSE has seen some fluctuations since the start of 2007. One reason could be that it is the election year in Pakistan, and stocks are expected to remain dull. KSE has set an all time high of 12,400 points, before settling around the 11,000 mark. Result season in June and better payout expectations can drive the market to record level high again.

Performance
As measured by the KSE 100 Index, the Karachi stock market has grown rapidly in the current century. The Karachi Stock Exchange was acclaimed as the best-performing stock market of the world in 2002.

KSE Indices
KSE began with a 50 shares index. As the market grew, a representative index was needed. On November 1, 1991 the KSE-100 was introduced with a base of 1,000 points. By 2001, it had grown to 1,770 points. By 2005, due to a period of robust growth the index had skyrocketed to 9,989 points. It reached a peak of 11,485 points in March 2006. As at March 2007 it is currently trading at 11,310 points (March. 15, 2007). The KSE-100 approach remains to this date the most generally accepted measure of the Exchange. The KSE-100 is a capital weighted index and consists of 100 companies representing about 86 percent of market capitalization of the Exchange. At the end of 2006, KSE-30 index was introduced , which was Pakistan first free float index comprising of 30 most floated stocks in KSE. KSE-30 index was trading at 14,199 points (March. 15, 2007).