EQUITY MFS REDUCE HOLDINGS IN INFOSYS, AIRTEL IN AUGUST
Domestic mutual fund (MF) managers pruned their holdings in several blue-chip stocks such as Infosys, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Steel in August amid a sharp up move in stock prices.
On the other hand, they increased exposure to ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Besides, they invested heavily in the initial public offerings (IPOS) of chemical company Chemplast Sanmar and cement maker Nuvoco Vistas. And they moderated inflows into equity schemes limited MF buying.
“In August, equity MFS saw inflows of ~8,667 crore, which was lower than the previous month’s collections of ~22,600 crore. In the secondary markets, funds deployment lowered too, at ~11,500 crore from ~19,700 crore in July,” said Abhilash Pagaria, assistant vice-president, Edelweiss Alternative Research. In August, the Sensex had rallied 9.4 per cent, while the Nifty Midcap 100 rose 2.2 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 2.5 per cent.
In the mid-cap space, Coforge (~601 crore net investment), Minda Industries (~464 crore), and LIC Housing Finance (~272 crore) were among the major buys for equity MFS. In the small-cap space, RBL Bank (~161 crore), Mahindra CIE (~156 crore), and Can Fin Homes (~137 crore) were major buys. GMM Pfaudler, Just Dial, and KPIT Technologies were stocks that saw fund managers reduce their holdings.