Here’s what fund houses bought and sold in April; do you own any?

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The second wave of Covid-19 and localised lockdowns have made Indian equity markets volatile. As a result, investors have become cautious with open-ended equity mutual funds witnessing net inflows of Rs 3,437.37 crore as against inflows of Rs 9,115.12 crore in the previous month. 

“The volatility and intermittent corrections in the markets, on the back of concerns over the intense second wave of coronavirus pandemic and its possible impact on the economy, provided investors a good investment opportunity/entry points during the month. However, while the quantum of redemption was almost the same as last month, the fund mobilised was lower than that in March suggesting some of the investors would have preferred to stay on the sidelines until more clarity emerges around the impact of the second wave of the pandemic on the economy,” said Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director – Manager Research, Morningstar India.

Trends

The contributions under the systematic investment plan (SIP) remained constant as the month of April 2021 saw inflows of Rs 8,590 crore versus Rs 9,182.42 crore witnessed in March 2021. The higher number in March 2021 was higher owing to weekend dawning at the end of February the rollover of Rs 495-500 crore of February is reflected in March 2021.

Primarily led by liquid, equity, arbitrage, and income funds, the MF industry’s AUM scaled new heights to reach Rs 32.4 lakh crore in April.

April saw notable changes in the sector and stock allocation of funds. On an MoM basis, weights of Healthcare, Metals, Chemicals, and Textiles increased, while weights of Consumer, Technology, Cement, Autos, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Banks (Private and PSU), Retail, Utilities, and Real Estate moderated, said a report released by Motilal Oswal.

MF houses were net buyers in 44% of Nifty stocks with the highest MoM net buying in Apr’21 was seen in Tata Steel (+8.7%), Adani Ports (+8%), UPL (+5.8%), ONGC (+5.1%), and Tata Motors (+4.5%), added the note.

Big names

In April 21, three each of the top 10 stocks that saw the maximum increase in value were from healthcare and private financials. Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, RIL, Divi’s Lab, JSPL, Bharti Airtel, and Dr Reddy’s increased the most in terms of value MoM.

Stocks that saw the maximum decline in value MoM were HDFC Bank, ITC, Infosys, TCS, L&T, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, NTPC, HCL Tech, and AU Small Finance Bank.

Besides that here is a look at new additions and exits by the top three equity asset management companies in April:

SBI Mutual Fund

In April, the fund house bought stakes in Hindustan Copper, Fortis Healthcare, Hindustan Aeronautics, Minda Industries, Cera Sanitaryware, L&T Finance Holdings, Mahanagar Gas and Amara Raja Batteries.

On the other hand, it exited from companies like Gabriel India and Mayur Uniquoters.

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company

During the month of April, the fund house added only Federal-Mogul Goetze (India) while it exited from counters like Panacea Biotech, Neuland Labs, Laxmi Organic Industries, MTAR Technologies, Burger King & Triveni Engineering.

HDFC Asset Management Company

For the month of April, the asset management company included shares like Macrotech Developers, Pfizer, ABB Power, Adani Enterprises, NMDC, Vodafone Idea, MRF, Hathway Cable, Amara Raja Batteries and SRF.

Simultaneously its exited from scrips like Strides Pharma, Heranba Industries, Ashok Leyland, Alembic Pharma, L&T Infotech, Poddar Pigments and Info Edge (India).