The Hindu Business Line : Fund houses prune exposure to auto, cement

The best and the brightest among equity funds are firmly shunning automobiles, cement and pharmaceuticals stocks – sectors that have lately started to lag – even as many of them have found bigger reasons to embrace segments such as telecommunications, financial services and media.

A look at the June portfolios suggests that fund managers have wanted to consolidate their holdings in a selective manner, including those in the mid-cap space. Infotech and power have been among the preferred areas for quite a few, while a number of them have tried to pare their exposure to certain metals and other commodities.

A study of portfolios of some of the largest equity funds – each with assets of at least Rs 1,000 crore – indicates that these have generally tried to remain as broad-based as possible, mostly with the help of large-caps and the relatively larger mid-caps.

However, telecom, banking and entertainment are three segments that have been emerging rapidly, fund circles say, adding that a number of diversified funds have sought to scale up their holdings in select stocks from among these sectors. Some of the more popular companies in these spheres include Bharti Airtel, RCom, ICICI Bank, SBI, PNB, Zee and TV 18. Taken together, these and others of their ilk have now started accounting for a higher share of the overall allocations.

A review by Emkay Shares & Stock Brokers shows funds like Franklin India Prima Plus, DSP ML TIGER, Reliance Vision, Templeton India Equity Income and HDFC Equity have measured exposure to these sectors, having taken a fresh look at them in recent times. Not surprisingly, however, many of such funds have heavy investments in large-caps, including index heavyweights.

Some of the smaller-sized players (with less than Rs 1,000 crore) too have displayed similar characteristics, it may be mentioned. These include some of the better performers in this group – Tata Equity Opportunities, Birla Sun Life Equity, Birla Mid Cap and HDFC Growth.

No major gain

On another front, equity funds in June have not seen significant mark-to-market gains, maintained sources. Mr Sameer Kamdar, who heads MFs at Mata Securities, felt there were only marginal gains of about Rs 1,000 crore. This was because of a skimpy 0.71 per cent increase in the Sensex during the month. However, he added that the equity NFO market did continue to be “subdued” as not more than four funds wrapped up their initial offers. These mobilised roughly Rs 2,665 crores.

More Stories on : Mutual Funds | Stock Markets

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Bay may spring back to life by weekend

Morgan Stanley BPO not liable to pay tax: Apex court

BSNL union-Raja meet fails to end cellular contract row

Fund houses prune exposure to auto, cement

‘Standard norms needed to discover gas price’

ONGC vessel sinks, 4 missing

Divi’s Lab on a roll

KPMG report calls for creation of strategic sugar stock

Small car before next AGM: Ratan Tata

Commercial rentals on the rise in Mumbai, Bangalore

BSE must price services competitively, develop new products: SEBI chief

Stanchart sets up pvt banking hub in Chennai

BSNL mobile growth slumps