Thursday, June 10, 2010

Equity Funds Performance Review - May 2010


Equity fund categories had felt the heat of the global cues as their performance slipped in May 2010. Equity Diversified Funds category dropped 3.59% in May compared with a gain of 2.83% in April. Among the other categories, Infotech Funds fell 4.06%, followed by Tax Planning Funds (3.67%), Index Funds (3.35%), Equity ETFs (3.27%), Banking Funds (3%), and Equity Oriented Balanced Fund (2.33%). On the other hand sector funds such as FMCG and Pharma Funds were able register gains in May. They witnessed gains of 2.48% and 2.43% respectively in May. 

The ripples of the disturbances in the overseas markets influenced Indian equities market in the month of May. The key benchmark indices, Sensex registered a fall of 3.50%, while the Nifty settled with a drop of 3.63%. However, the BSE Mid and Small caps underperformed their larger counterparts declining 4.87% and 7.17% respectively. 

Equity Diversified Funds
 
Equity Diversified Fund category lost 3.59% in May 2010. Among the schemes in the equity diversified category, Religare PSU Equity Fund, Edelweiss Absolute Return Equity Fund and HDFC Growth Fund were the gainers with a return of 1.36%, 0.47% and 0.05% respectively in May 2010. All the other schemes witnessed loss during the month. JM Basic Fund and Bharti AXA Focused Infrastructure Fund were the top losers as it had faced erosion of NAV by 11.49% and 9.85% respectively in May. 

Tax Savings Funds 
 
Tax Savings Funds category lost 3.67% in May, compared with a gain of 2.95% in April. All the schemes in this category had witnessed fall in NAV. Fidelity Tax Advantage Fund and HDFC Tax Saver Fund were able to contain their loss to 0.63% and 0.67% respectively in May. Bharti AXA Tax Advantage Fund, Bharti AXA Tax Advantage Fund – Eco and DWS Tax Saving Fund were the biggest losers in this category. Their NAV fell 9.56%, 9.54% and 6.38% respectively in May. 

Index Funds 
 
The Index Fund category lost 3.35% in May compared with a marginal gain of 0.44% in April. UTI-Nifty Index Fund fell 3.64%, Tata Index Fund – Nifty Plan (A) and LICMF Index Fund – Nifty Plan fell 3.62% each, to end as the biggest losers in this category. On the other hand HDFC Index Fund-Sensex Plus Plan and ING Nifty Plus Fund were able to contain their fall to 1.90% and 2.70% respectively in May. 

Sector Funds
 
Among the sector funds FMCG and Pharma Funds were the gainers while Infotech and Banking Funds lost 4.06% and 3% in May. 

Pharma Funds category gained 2.43% in May. All the schemes in this category gained, while UTI-Pharma & Healthcare Fund ended as the top performer with 3.21%. 

FMCG Funds category rose 2.48% in May. SBI Magnum SFU – FMCG Fund was the top performer in this category. In terms of NAV performance, the fund's NAV gained 4.77%.
Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund was the top loser in Banking Fund category. In terms of NAV performance, the fund's NAV fell 4.24%. While, ICICI Pru Banking & Financial Services Fund was able to contain the loss to 3.29%, to end as the top performer in this category. 

Birla Sun Life New Millennium Fund was the top loser in Infotech Fund category. In terms of NAV performance, the fund's NAV fell 5.66%. While SBI Magnum SFU – Infotech Fund was able to contain the loss to 2.90%, to end as the top performer in this category. 

Equity Oriented Balanced Fund
 
Equity Oriented Balanced Fund category gained 2.33% in May, compared with a gain of 2.34% in April. HDFC Balanced Fund, Benchmark Equity & Derivatives Opportunities Fund and HDFC Prudence Fund were the gainers in this category. Their NAV appreciated by 0.30%, 0.28% and 0.13% respectively. LICMF Balanced Fund and Escorts Balanced Fund were the top losers in this category with a fall of 6.06% and 5.60% respectively in May. 

Equity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
 
Equity ETF category fell 3.27% in May. Bank BeES and Reliance Banking Exchange Traded Fund were the top losers in this category with a fall of 5.08% and 5.05% respectively. Hang Seng BeES and Junior BeES were able to limit their fall to 1.31% and 2.42% respectively.