The Hindu Business Line : Equity funds fare better: Crisil

EQUITY funds have delivered a strong performance while debt funds have steadied themselves after the negative returns posted over the last few months, suggests Crisil's monthly return rankings of mutual funds in India.

Diversified equity schemes were helped by the ongoing rally in the equity market with most of the top schemes generating healthy returns. The rally in the mid-cap segment also helped to augment the performance of schemes that have a higher proportion of these stocks in their portfolio.

The CRISIL Fund-eX, which is a benchmark for equity schemes, generated point-to-point returns of 5.13 per cent for the month, according to a Crisil press release.

Regarding debt funds, the release said that investor sentiment remained cautious as apprehensions of a domestic interest rate hike on the heels of a rise in interest rates in the US led to volatility in the debt market. Bond yields dipped in mid-September as the Finance Ministry calmed fears of a rise in current rates, but they rose subsequently as hardening global oil prices exerted upward pressure on inflation.

The CRISIL Fund-dX, the benchmark index for long-term income funds, generated point-to-point annualised returns of 4.48 per cent in September.

The Monthly Income Plan category also ended the month in positive territory on the back of the equity segment's healthy returns and the northward movement in the debt segment, the release said.