Mutual funds increase weightage in technology, metals, consumer durables sectors

In August, mutual funds showed an interest in technology, metals, consumer durables, and chemicals leading to a month on month rise in their weights, according to a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Conversely, private banks, PSU banks, oil and gas, consumer, and NBFCs saw a MoM moderation in weights.

Private Banks (19.2 per cent) was the top sector holding for MFs in August, followed by Technology (9.6 per cent), Autos (8.2 per cent), Capital Goods (7.3 per cent), and Consumer (6.8 per cent).

Media, Textiles, Chemicals, and Technology were the top sectors to witness an increase in value MoM, the report said.

The highest MoM net buying in Nifty 50 stocks in August was observed in Britannia (+17 per cent), UPL (+11 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (+9.8 per cent), Grasim Inds (+8.7 per cent), and Wipro (+8.6 per cent).

Among the Nifty Midcap-100, MFs were net buyers in 51 per cent of the stocks. The highest MoM net buying was seen in Union Bank, Coforge, Aditya Birla Capital, L&T Finance Holdings, and Petronet LNG.

In the Nifty Smallcap-100 snapshot, MFs were net buyers in 67 per cent of the stocks. The highest MoM net buying was witnessed in Piramal Pharma, Suzlon Energy, BSE, MRPL, and Jubilant Ingrevia, the report said.

Fourteen of the top 25 schemes close higher MoM. Among the top 25 schemes by AUM, the following reported the highest MoM increase: Nippon India Small Cap Fund (+4.7 per cent MoM change in NAV), Nippon India Growth Fund (+4.1 per cent MoM), HDFC Small Cap Fund (+3.4 per cent MoM), Kotak Emerging Equity Fund (+3.4 per cent MoM), and Nippon India Multi Cap Fund (+3 per cent MoM).

The maximum MoM decline was seen in financial stocks. In August, the stocks that saw the maximum MoM increase in value were Coforge, Infosys, M&M, Interglobe Aviation, Zomato, Maruti Suzuki, Gland Pharma, Solar Industries, Persistent System, and Cipla.

Stocks that witnessed the maximum decline in MoM value were SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC, Cummins India, TCS, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Ashok Leyland, the report said.