Equity, debt fund post positive returns in July: Crisil

NEW DELHI: All equity and debt mutual funds posted positive returns in the month of July except gilt funds amid a bounce-back in the market, credit rating agency Crisil says.

There were six diversified equity oriented schemes which gave over 10 per cent returns during the month ended July 31. Of these, the top four schemes belonged to LIC Mutual Fund.

Among pure debt indices, the CRISIL Fund dX that tracks long-term bond funds, ended 0.43 per cent up while the CRISIL STBEX (benchmark for short-term bond funds) gave monthly returns of 0.29 per cent. However, the CRISIL MF Gilt Index gave negative returns of 0.15 per cent.

"In the equity category, banking sector funds performed well with relief rallies in banking stocks driven by valuations becoming attractive after a prolonged southward movement," CRISIL FundServices Head Krishnan Sitaraman said.

Among banking sector funds, the top performers in the equity mutual fund space, Reliance Banking Fund posted 13 per cent returns for the month ended July, followed by the UTI Thematic - Banking Sector Fund with 11.50 per cent gains and JM Financial Services Sector Fund with 10.12 per cent returns.

Among industries, the banking sector continued to be the most popular industry followed by computers, software, electrical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

Reliance Industries continued to be the most popular stock among fund managers of diversified equity schemes followed by ICICI Bank and Bharti Televentures over a three-month time frame.

The mutual fund industry's average assets under management fell in July to Rs 5.31 trillion from Rs 5.66 trillion in June 2008 largely due to volatile equity markets and tightening monetary policy. However, there were eight fund houses which saw a rise in their average AUM.