Monday, May 17, 2010

Weekly Scenario: Equity Fund Categories Turn to Gains

Equity Fund categories were able to deliver positive returns over the one week period ended 14 May 2010 despite the equity markets being highly volatile. Equity Diversified fund category gained 1.54%, Tax Savings funds rose 1.65% and Index funds climbed 1.43%. Among sector funds, Bank fund category was the biggest gainer by 2.94%, followed by Media Fund by 2.87%, FMCG Funds by 2.47%, Auto Fund by 1.99%, Infotech Funds by 1.46% and Pharma Funds by 1.30%. Telecom Fund was the only loser in the sector funds as it lost 5.70%. 

Sensex climbed 225.49 points, or 1.34%, to 16994.60 in the week ended 14 May 2010. On the other hand, the broad based Nifty settled with a gain of 75.45 points, or 1.50%, to 5093.50 in the same period. 

Major buying was seen in Realty, which gained 4.14%, followed by Auto (3.69%), Consumer Durables (3.32%), Bankex (3.23%) and FMCG (2.40%) and IT (2.16%). However, Metal dropped 0.44% and Capital Goods lost 0.43%. 

Mid-cap stocks moved up 1.58%, to 6942.06 in the week. While the small-cap shares rose 1.16%, to 8810.28 during the week. The Mid-Cap index outperformed the Sensex. But the Small-Cap index underperformed the Sensex. 

Equity Diversified Funds
 
Equity Diversified Fund category gained 1.54% over one week period ended 14 May 2010. Among the schemes in the equity diversified category, Birla Sun Life India GenNext Fund gained a maximum of 3.87%, followed by IDFC Strategic Sector (50-50) Equity - Plan A which climbed 3.79%, Birla Sun Life Buy India Fund rose 3.43%, JM HI FI Fund surged 3.37% and Sundaram BNP Paribas India Leadership Fund jumped 3.14% among others. Tata Growing Economies Infrastructure – Plan A and JM Basic Fund were the worst performers in this category losing 0.92% and 0.23% respectively. 

Tax Savings Funds 
 
Tax savings Funds category gained 1.65% over one week period as on 14 May 2010. JM Tax Gain Fund and ING Tax Savings Fund were the top performing with a return of 3.34% and 2.72% respectively during one week period. Among the other schemes Birla Sun Life Tax Relief '96 rose 2.53%, Sundaram BNP Paribas Tax Saver climbed 2.50% and Quantum Tax Saving Fund surged 2.30% among others. Bharti AXA Tax Advantage Fund – Eco and Bharti AXA Tax Advantage Fund ended as the worst performers in this category with a return of 0.49% each over one week period. 

Index Funds
 
The Index Fund category gained 1.43%, over one week period ended 14 May 2010. JM Nifty Plus was the highest gainer in this category as its NAV appreciated by 2.07%. LICMF Index Fund – Nifty Plan and UTI Nifty Index Fund were the next highest gainers by 1.54% each. Among the other schemes in the category, Tata Index Fund – Nifty Plan (A) climbed 1.50%, SBI Magnum Index Fund surged 1.49% and Principal Index Fund added 1.48%. 

Sector Funds
 
Pharma Funds category gained 1.30% over one week period ended 14 May 2010. All the schemes in this category gained, with SBI Magnum SFU – Pharma Fund ending as the top performer with 1.75%. 

Bank Funds category gained 2.94% over one week period ended 14 May 2010. JM Financial Services Sector Fund rose 4.46% and ICICI Pru Banking & Financial Services Fund climbed 3.73%. 

FMCG Funds category rose 2.47% over one week period ended 14 May 2010. SBI Magnum SFU – FMCG Fund was the top performer in this category. In terms of NAV performance, the fund's NAV gained 3.33% over the one week period. 

Infotech Funds category rose 1.46% over one week period ended 14 May 2010. Franklin Infotech Fund was the top performer in this category. In terms of NAV performance, the fund's NAV gained 2.11% over the one week period. 

Balanced Fund
 
Balanced Fund: Equity Oriented
 
Equity oriented balanced fund category average had gained 1.02% during the week end period. Tata Balanced Fund was the highest gainer in this category as its NAV appreciated by 2.35%. Birla Sun Life '95 Fund was the next highest gainer by 1.86%. Among the other schemes in the category, UTI Balanced Fund climbed 1.82%, JM Balanced Fund surged 1.79% and HDFC Children's Gift Fund – Invt Plan added 1.66%. 
 
Balanced Fund: Debt Oriented
 
Debt oriented balanced fund category average had gained 0.47% during the week end period. UTI CCP Balanced Fund was the highest gainer in this category as its NAV appreciated by 0.97%. UTI Unit Linked Insurance Plan was the next highest gainer by 0.92%. Among the other schemes in the category, DWS Money Plus Advantage Fund climbed 0.77%, UTI Retirement Benefit Pension Plan surged 0.74% and Tata Young Citizens Fund added 0.69%.