Mutual funds lap up beaten down stocks in August

The top five mutual fund houses — HDFC, ICICI Pru, Reliance, Birla Sun Life and UTI AMC, which together hold about 55 per cent market share in the MF industry — have bought stocks that have been beaten down and were trading at attractive levels in August. HDFC Mutual Fund bought Tata Steel and Vedanta, while ICICI Pru bought into NTPC and Ambuja Cements. Among midcap stocks, fund houses bought stocks such as Thomas Cook, Sun TV Network and Exide Industries. Funds have invested Rs 10,533 crore in stocks in August, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 16,877 crore during the same period — its highest monthly selloff in more than seven years.