The Hindu Business Line : SBI Bluechip: Financial services top

SBI Bluechip Fund started on a bright note two years back ago but appears to have lost momentum in between. The fund collected Rs 3,000 crore during the NFO and, according to the latest fact sheet the assets under management are Rs 1,132 crore. Over the past six months, he NAV per unit corrected by 29 per cent, while the asset size declined by 23 per cent.

The portfolio for May had 46 stocks spread across 15 sectors. Financial services continued to take the top slot, followed by energy and capital goods. The fund pruned exposure to auto, cement, construction, energy, financial services, capital goods and telecom. Given the volatile market conditions, it preferred to step up the cash position, which currently accounts for 15 per cent of the assets. Exposure to consumer goods, fertilisers, IT and metals was increased marginally.

In the auto space, holdings in Mahindra and Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki were reduced by 20 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. It was a mixed bag in cement sector, as the fund accumulated shares of ACC and Century Textiles and Industries and, instead, pruned holdings in Grasim Industries by more than 50 per cent.

Construction stocks lost market fancy and were among the worst performing sectors in the past four months. The fund reduced the holdings in the sector during the January correction and since held on to the reduced holdings in DLF, Hindustan Construction, Jaiprakash Associates and Unitech, despite steep a fall in the value. GMR Infrastructure was the new addition in the past quarter.

Financial services, which withstood the January correction, was under substantial selling pressure as many of the companies in the segment touched their 52-week lows. But the fund preferred to adopt a passive strategy in the sector post-January correction, except in State Bank of India, in which it sold more than 50 per cent of the shares in the past month. Axis Bank was the new face, while holdings in HDFC increased; ICICI Bank was retained without any change.

The fund retained Thermax while it cut exposure to BHEL and Crompton Greaves. Interestingly, it moved out of Larsen and Toubro completely.

Infosys Technologies was accumulated while exposure to Satyam Computer and TCS reduced.

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