It's a cakewalk
As markets bounce back to near all-time highs, equity fund investors have enough reasons to cheer.
By Barun Chakraborty, TNN |
In the mutual fund space, almost all categories, technology and pharma being the exceptions, have brought home decent returns for investors. Over the past six months, as the Sensex moved northwards from the 14,000 levels to cross 20,000, gaining over 42%, three equity fund categories — banking, index and tax planning — outperformed the Sensex.
The category of banking funds churned out an impressive 55% gain. However, technology funds have succumbed to the pressure of the strong rupee and sub-prime fears. The category saw a value erosion, recording a negative return of over 9% over the past six months. The groups of equity auto and equity pharma funds too were languishing at the bottom of performance chart, with returns of 2.61% and 0.96%, respectively.
Banking Funds
Banking stocks have witnessed a strong rally on the bourses over the past one year. In the past six months, the ET Bank Index surged over 55%. The growth in the banking scrips was well captured by the sector funds as well. Among the two funds in this category, UTI Banking performed better with a return of almost 58% in six months.
The top two holdings of both the funds — SBI and ICICI Bank — were flying on bourses. These two scrips put together constitute 44% and 28% of the holdings of UTI Banking and Reliance Banking, respectively.
The basket of index funds too offered huge bounty to its investors. The category with funds pegged to different indices recorded a gain of over 33% over the past three months. With the indices outperforming many equity-diversified funds, index funds actually benefited over the past one year.
Banking BeES tops the list returning over 65%, way ahead of the second-best Birla Index (47.16%). Index funds, while only mimicking Sensex and Nifty, differ in returns due to varied expense ratios and tracking errors.
Tax Planning
Equity-diversified funds
Schemes like Sundaram BNP Paribas CAPEX (81.83% gain since May 2007), Canara Robeco Infrastructure (81%), Sundaram BNP Paribas CAPEX (80.59%), Tata Infrastructure (73.53%) and DWS Investment Opp (71.58%) not only managed top slots in the category, they staged the best show among all equity funds.
Technology funds
The journey for tech funds has not been a smooth one in the recent past. The sector has come under pressure due to the strengthening rupee and turmoil in the financial sector in the US. In the past six months, all funds in this category, except DSPML Technology.com, have logged in negative returns.
The worst being UTI Software and Franklin Infotech with losses of 18.89% and 17.15%, respectively. As the IT stocks were languishing on the bourses, the category as a whole lost over 9% in the past six months.
The category of banking funds churned out an impressive 55% gain. However, technology funds have succumbed to the pressure of the strong rupee and sub-prime fears. The category saw a value erosion, recording a negative return of over 9% over the past six months. The groups of equity auto and equity pharma funds too were languishing at the bottom of performance chart, with returns of 2.61% and 0.96%, respectively.
Banking Funds
Banking stocks have witnessed a strong rally on the bourses over the past one year. In the past six months, the ET Bank Index surged over 55%. The growth in the banking scrips was well captured by the sector funds as well. Among the two funds in this category, UTI Banking performed better with a return of almost 58% in six months.
The top two holdings of both the funds — SBI and ICICI Bank — were flying on bourses. These two scrips put together constitute 44% and 28% of the holdings of UTI Banking and Reliance Banking, respectively.
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Index fundsThe basket of index funds too offered huge bounty to its investors. The category with funds pegged to different indices recorded a gain of over 33% over the past three months. With the indices outperforming many equity-diversified funds, index funds actually benefited over the past one year.
Banking BeES tops the list returning over 65%, way ahead of the second-best Birla Index (47.16%). Index funds, while only mimicking Sensex and Nifty, differ in returns due to varied expense ratios and tracking errors.
Tax Planning
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Tax planning funds as a group was the third-best performer among all equity fund categories. The funds logged in a 42% growth over the past six months. DWS Tax Saving and Birla Sun Life Tax Relief were the best performers with each gaining over 58%. High exposure to the energy and financial sector companies helped these stage impressive returns. Equity-diversified funds
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The largest category in the equity fund universe hasn’t let investors down. Equity-diversified funds, as a category, has reported a gain of almost 42% in the past six months. Funds with infrastructure theme or high exposure to infrastructure or capital goods companies top the return charts. Schemes like Sundaram BNP Paribas CAPEX (81.83% gain since May 2007), Canara Robeco Infrastructure (81%), Sundaram BNP Paribas CAPEX (80.59%), Tata Infrastructure (73.53%) and DWS Investment Opp (71.58%) not only managed top slots in the category, they staged the best show among all equity funds.
Technology funds
The journey for tech funds has not been a smooth one in the recent past. The sector has come under pressure due to the strengthening rupee and turmoil in the financial sector in the US. In the past six months, all funds in this category, except DSPML Technology.com, have logged in negative returns.
The worst being UTI Software and Franklin Infotech with losses of 18.89% and 17.15%, respectively. As the IT stocks were languishing on the bourses, the category as a whole lost over 9% in the past six months.
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