The inevitable finally happened; the BSE Sensex pierced through the 10,000-point barrier, ending the week at 10,111 points (up 3.77%), rallying by 368 points over the previous week. The S&P CNX Nifty ended the week at 3,028 points (up 2.96%) an 87-point appreciation. The CNX Mid Cap index closed at 4,427 points, up 3.26% over the previous week.
Leading Diversified Equity Funds
| Diversified Equity Funds | NAV (Rs) | 1-Wk | 1-Mth | 6-Mth | 1-Yr | SD | SR |
| KOTAK MID-CAP | 17.16 | 6.33% | 8.34% | 29.51% | - | 5.21% | 0.78% |
| TAURUS STARSHARE | 31.07 | 5.14% | 11.16% | 29.46% | 71.94% | 7.11% | 0.53% |
| FRANKLIN OPPORTUNITIES | 18.61 | 5.02% | 7.51% | 23.98% | 61.27% | 6.12% | 0.45% |
| KOTAK OPPORTUNITIES | 23.05 | 5.00% | 9.11% | 32.06% | 77.17% | 4.28% | 1.03% |
| BOB GROWTH | 25.90 | 4.90% | 8.73% | 22.34% | 57.16% | 6.78% | 0.39% |
Schemes from the diversified equity funds category had a good week. Kotak midcap (6.33%) took the number one spot followed by Taurus Starshare (5.14%) and Franklin Opportunities (5.02%).
Category leaders Franklin India Bluechip (3.71%) and HDFC Top 200 (2.22%) turned in a decent performance for the week but HSBC Equity (1.49%) failed to impress. Amongst the midcap majors, Sundaram Select Midcap (3.00%) and Franklin Prima (2.51%) had a decent week.
The NFO (new fund offer) launches keep coming at the investor relentlessly. Likewise, we persist in our view that the current lot of NFOs are too restricted in their investment mandate (read thematic) to offer 'serious' value-add from a 3-5 year perspective. Add to this the fact that some of these NFOs are seeing transfers from existing mutual funds and you will understand why Personalfn always seems to be concerned about the huge NFO collections. For more insight on some of the NFOs doing the rounds presently, watch this space.
Leading Debt Funds
| Debt Funds | NAV (Rs) | 1-Wk | 1-Mth | 6-Mth | 1-Yr | SD | SR |
| PRINCIPAL INCOME | 16.30 | 0.13% | -0.01% | 1.48% | 4.33% | 0.63% | -0.43% |
| ABN AMRO FLEXI DEBT | 10.53 | 0.12% | 0.49% | 1.55% | 4.22% | 0.33% | -0.70% |
| LIC BOND | 19.04 | 0.11% | 0.39% | 2.69% | 5.00% | 0.57% | -0.44% |
| KOTAK FLEXI DEBT | 10.72 | 0.10% | 0.45% | 2.72% | 5.85% | 0.03% | -2.10% |
| CHOLA TRIPLE ACE | 23.40 | 0.10% | 0.02% | 1.40% | 2.82% | 0.57% | -0.66% |
The benchmark 7.38% 2015 GOI yield closed this week (February 10, 2006) at 7.28%, up by 0.01% over last week. Bond yields are inversely related to bond prices; a rise in bond yields translates into a fall in bond prices. Principal Income (0.13%) emerged the leader closely followed by ABN Amro Flexi Debt (0.12%). LIC Bond (0.11%) took the third position with 0.10% returns.
Leading Balanced Funds
| Balanced Funds | NAV (Rs) | 1-Wk | 1-Mth | 1-Yr | 3-Yr | SD | SR |
| KOTAK BALANCE | 24.56 | 4.22% | 8.86% | 53.09% | 47.87% | 5.24% | 0.50% |
| LIC BALANCE | 39.34 | 4.07% | 7.06% | 42.79% | 29.80% | 4.49% | 0.34% |
| JM BALANCED | 18.28 | 3.10% | 7.40% | 41.05% | 32.89% | 4.34% | 0.33% |
| BOB BALANCED | 22.12 | 2.98% | 7.54% | 48.56% | - | 5.23% | 0.41% |
| PRINCIPAL BALANCED | 19.49 | 2.80% | 5.24% | 37.93% | 42.05% | 4.57% | 0.33% |
Balanced funds benefited from the positive sentiment in the equity markets. Kotak Balanced (4.22%) led the pack. LIC Balance (4.07%) and JM Balanced (3.10%) took second and third positions respectively. Category leader HDFC Prudence (1.17%) ended this week with a reasonable performance.
With the budget only a few weeks away, anticipation is already building up in the industry. With a lot of tax sops already doled out to the mutual fund segment, investors are asking the question -- where to from here? We have tried to answer that question in our pre-budget analysis on this subject.
There is little time left for investors to finalise their tax-saving investments. As far as the risk-taking investor is concerned, its about time he tied up his investments in tax-saving funds. With the slew of NFOs in the offing and their astronomical collections, we suspect that a lot money that was initially set aside for these funds found its way into the NFOs. In the interest of the tax-paying investor, we hope we are wrong.