Domestic mutual funds have reshuffled their portfolios significantly in May as equity markets rallied to hover around all-time high levels.
Mutual funds were net buyers in Indian equities during the month, adding stocks worth Rs 2,447 crore compared to selling Rs 4,533 crore worth of shares in April.
Two private banks, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, remain among the top holdings of the top five AMCs including SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Pru AMC, HDFC Mutual Fund, Nippon Mutual Fund, and UTI Mutual Fund.
For SBI Mutual Fund, some of the top buys in May included Mankind Pharma, Gland Pharma, Zee Entertainment, Voltas, Indus Towers, Firstsource Solutions, and HDFC Life Insurance among others. ICICI Bank remains the top holding of the fund, with nearly 40 crore shares in the lender.
The fund house has not tweaked its positions in HDFC Bank, RIL, ITC, and SBI. It has raised stakes in Infosys, HDFC, while reducing the same in Kotak Mahindra Bank.
ICICI Pru Mutual Fund bought Metropolis Healthcare, Shriram Finance, Page Industries, MRF, Vedant Fashions, and Siemens, among others, in May. As is the case with SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Pru MF also has its highest holding in ICICI Bank, followed by Infosys, RIL, and Airtel.
During the reporting month, the fund house reduced stakes in Airtel, RIL, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and Maruti Suzuki.For Nippon Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were the top holdings in May. HDFC MF shopped for shares in CIE Automotive, Global Health, Mankind Pharma, Adani Enterprises, JSW Steel, Nippon MF picked up stakes in Astra Microwave products, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Mankind Pharma, Exide Industries, MRF, Nestle India, among others.
UTI Mutual Fund, on the other hand, bought shares in Indian Bank, IDFC, Biocon, M&M Financial Services, NMDC, and Gujarat Gas among others. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC, Kotak Bank were the top holdings of the fund house in May.
In FY23, mutual funds invested over Rs 1.8 lakh crore in equities 2022-23, largely due to strong interest from retail investors and the correction in the market that led to a reasonable valuation.
The mutual fund industry gained momentum due to factors such as strong GDP growth, controlled inflation levels, and balanced liquidity in the economy. The fundamentals of the economy and corporations are strong, Anand Rathi Wealth’s Azeez said.
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