INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Investors poured money into equity mutual fund schemes in August as falling stock prices encouraged them to increase bets on the market
Arbitrage and liquid funds too witnessed inflows after risk-averse investors shifted money from credit risk funds
Equity schemes attracted Rs 9,152 crore in flows in August compared to Rs 8,112 crore in July.
Within equity mutual funds, investors put Rs
2,583 crore into large cap funds, Rs 1,581 crore into multi cap funds, Rs 1,068 crore in mid cap funds and Rs 1,307 crore in small cap funds
and Rs 795 crore in focused funds
Mutual fund industry officials said the sell-off in the stock market, which eased share valuations, prompted investors to put in money into
From the Union Budget on July 5 till August 31, the benchmark Nifty has fallen 7.7 per cent
“The Nifty is trading at a discount to its fair value, which indicates that valuations are attractive now,” says G Pradeep Kumar, CEO,
Union Mutual Fund.
Flows into equity mutual funds through systematic investment plans (SIPs) slowed to Rs 8,230 crore from Rs 8,324 crore in
This is the ninth consecutive month when monthly SIP collections have stayed above Rs 8,000 crore.
The fixed income category saw inflows of
Rs 91,127 crore with Rs 79,428 crore coming into liquid funds
Corporate bond funds and banking and PSU debt fund saw inflows of Rs 3,578 crore and Rs 2,769 crore, respectively.
Credit risk funds
continued to see outflows of Rs 2,270 crore as investors preferred safer avenues like arbitrage and liquid funds
Arbitrage funds continued to see investor interest with the category collecting Rs 5,703 crore during the month.
“There is no challenge
from credit and duration and this category gives the best post-tax return,” says Radhika Gupta, CEO, Edelweiss Mutual Fund.
Investor
appetite for riskier products in the fixed income category has waned because of the deterioration of financials of non-banking finance
Most of them are sticking to high-quality AAA rated papers these days.
Hybrid funds, like balanced funds, and equity savings funds that
invest in a mix of debt and equity saw outflows of Rs 879 crore and Rs 607 crore, respectively.