Key observations
± On a fortnightly basis, NAVs of most equity diversified funds ended in the red with advance:decline ratio at 19:170. Category average was down by 1.2%. However, mid-caps continued to be in the top quartile. Top three gainers this fortnight were Taurus Ethical (+3.7%), Canara Robeco Emerging Equities (+1.8%) and Reliance Equity Opportunities (1.8%). Large-cap funds continued to underperform the category and the benchmark indices.
± Among the sectoral funds, Information Technology and Pharma oriented funds led the charts on a fortnightly basis. Top three gainers were ICICI Pru Technology (+2.7%), Birla SL New Millennium (+2.6%) and UTI Pharma & Healthcare (+2.0%). On an average, pharma funds’ NAV delivered a return of 1.8%, whereas Banking and Finance oriented funds’ NAVs ended down. Top three losers belonged to this sector, namely UTI Banking Sector (-4.6%), Religare Banking-Reg (-4.9%) and JM Fin Services Sector (-5%).
± Tax- saving funds also exhibited poor performance as their NAVs ended lower. The category average was down by 1.4% this fortnight. Funds with large corpuses were able to contain the downfall, namely ICICI Pru Tax Plan (-0.2%), HDFC TaxSaver (-0.3%) and Reliance Tax Saver (-0.6%). However, funds with smaller corpuses saw a drastic fall in their NAVs, viz. LIC MF Tax Plan, Edelweiss ELSS and JM Tax Gain. Their NAV was down by ~2.4% on a fortnightly basis.
± Among the balanced fund category, most of the fund NAVs declined on a fortnightly basis. However, capital oriented funds with lower equity exposure fell compared to others. Birla Sun Life Capital Protection Oriented -3Yrs, HDFC Balanced and DWS Capital Protection Oriented were the only three funds to deliver a positive return of 0.1%. The benchmark Crisil Balanced Fund Index was down by 1.6% on a fortnightly basis.
± Gold continued to under-perform this fortnight. Gold ETF NAVs were down by ~4.1%. Banking ETFs, especially Public Sector Undertaking, underperformed on the ETF charts on fears of an impending monetary tightening. Junior Bees, though down by 1%, topped the ETF chart on a fortnightly basis.
