Equity diversified funds ended their losing streak of the first two months of this calendar year by posting a gain of 6.03 per cent in March. They were down (-)4.19 per cent in January and (-)0.21 per cent in February.
Riding the upsurge in the equity markets in March (the Sensex and the Nifty gained 6.68 per cent and 6.64 per cent respectively), all mutual fund categories ended the month in the positive (going by their category average results). Equity Pharma was this month’s top-performing category, rising 10.82 per cent. This category has also posted the highest year-to-date (YTD) return of 10.05 per cent, besides being February’s top-performing category as well with a gain of 2.46 per cent. Equity Technology, which was the second best performing category in February, was March’s worst-performing category with a meagre 2.49 per cent gain.
Sectoral indexes: Metal reins
Among market indexes, BSE Metal, which was the best performing index of 2009, was the top performer in March as well. It clocked 9.59 per cent return, much higher than its 2.75 per cent return in February.
The other high-performing indexes were BSE Healthcare and BSE Bankex which posted gains of 8.45 per cent and 8.38 per cent respectively. BSE Auto, which was the top performer of 2009, clocked 6.98 per cent in March. BSE Realty continued its poor showing, gaining just 1.14 per cent. BSE IT fared marginally better with a return of 1.23 per cent.
Equity Diversified: all funds up
All the 258 funds in this category remained in the green. The best-performing fund in March was Canara Robeco F.O.R.C.E Retail which posted 10.34 per cent return. Another fund from the same fund house -- Canara Robeco Emerging Equities -- managed to post 9.61 per cent return and was among the top five funds in March. Two of JM’s funds -- JM Emerging Leaders and JM Small & Mid-Cap Reg -- posted the lowest 2.57 per cent and 2.59 per cent returns respectively.
The biggest fund in this category, Reliance Growth, whose Assets under Management (AUM) stood at Rs 6,733.40 crore as on February 28, 2010 posted 6.26 per cent return in February. The second-biggest fund, HDFC Top 200 with AUM of Rs 6,260.24 crore, posted 5.83 per cent return in March.
Tax Planning: up 6.38%
This second biggest equity category came a long way in March posting a return of 6.36 per cent. This category fell into the red in January and could not chalk a recovery in February either, falling by 0.13 per cent. The YTD return of the category is 1.68 per cent.
All the 37 funds in this category remained in the green. Canara Robeco Equity Tax Saver and Kotak Tax Saver were the best performing funds in March after they posted 8.82 per cent and 8.20 per cent return respectively. Taurus Tax Shield was the worst performing fund after it clocked 4.39 per cent return.
Magnum Taxgain, the biggest fund in this category with AUM of Rs 5210.25 crore as on February 28, 2010 posted 5.24 per cent return in March. This fund had slipped into the red after clocking a negative 0.11 per cent return in February. Interestingly, the smallest fund in this category, Edelweiss ELSS, posted higher 5.79 per cent return than its biggest counterpart.
Sectoral: Pharma leads
Equity Pharma was the best performing category in March after it posted the highest 10.82 per cent return. This was the best performing category in February as well. At the same time, Equity Banking and Equity FMCG too clocked handsome returns of 7.73 per cent and 7.10 per cent respectively. Equity Technology, however, performed poorly, gaining just 2.49 per cent.
Of the four funds in the Pharma category, Reliance Pharma clocked the best 12.55 per cent return in March. In the Equity-Banking category, Religare Banking posted the highest return of 9.09 per cent.
Hybrid Equity Oriented (Balanced)
This category posted 4.66 per cent return in March. It had posted (-)0.21 per cent return in February. The YTD return of the category is 1.92 per cent. All the 33 funds in this category posted positive returns in March. ICICI Prudential ChildCare-Gift was the best performing fund in this category with 7.12 per cent return. Reliance Regular Savings Balanced, Canara Robeco Balance and UTI CCP Advantage also posted above 6 per cent return.
The worst performing fund in this category was LICMF Children Fund, which posted a meagre 1.79 per cent return in March. HDFC Prudence, the biggest fund in this category with AUM of Rs 3570.80 crore as on February 28, 2010, posted 4.81 per cent return in March. This fund was the best-performing fund in 2009, having posted a return of 84.84 per cent.
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