Equity mutual funds (MFs) deployed maximum in shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) in June at ₹2,177 crore, followed by Maruti Suzuki ( ₹2,045 crore) and Bharti Airtel ( ₹1,310 crore), a report by Business Standard informed.
However, it noted that despite MF inflows, the shares of both RIL and Bharti Airtel have been turbulent in July.
On July 1, shares of RIL crashed over 7 percent, following the government imposing windfall taxes on domestic crude oil production and fuel exports, meanwhile shares of Airtel, too, declined this month amid uncertainty around Adani’s foray into the telecommunications sector, the report pointed out.
However, Maruti Suzuki shares continued to race ahead on the back of an improved outlook for the automotive sector, it added.
NTPC and HDFC were also among the top five buys for equity MFs in June, BS further stated. The report added that the fund managers used the weakness in these two counters to accumulate more shares.
It also highlighted Tata Steel saw maximum selling by domestic funds in June at ₹876 crore, leading to an 18 percent drop in the country’s leading steelmaker. Meanwhile, MFs pulled out over ₹600 crore each from Ambuja Cements and State Bank of India. ITC and HAL were also in the top 5 sells by mutual funds in June, informed BS.
Equity MFs net-bought shares worth ₹22,000 crore last month, even as overseas funds yanked out ₹49,400 crore. The adverse macro backdrop, with heightened worries on rising interest rates, elevated crude oil prices, and liquidity tightening, has kept the market volatile and jittery.
The total assets under management (AUM) for the MF industry declined for the second consecutive month to ₹35.6 lakh crore (down 4.2 percent MoM) in Jun’22 – the lowest level since August 2021 – led by a decline in AUM for income, equities, liquid, other ETFs.
