Mutual funds: What's hot, what's not

Mutual funds predominantly bought auto, FMCG, media, and telecom stocks in May. Metal, and power stocks weighed heavy on their sell list, while stocks were re-aligned in the banking, chemical, cement, oil and gas pack. They bought huge chunks of FMCG heavyweight ITC, while diluted exposure to IDFC.

MFs also participated in the IPO party with Reliance Petroleum, Kamdhenu Ispat, and Plethico Pharmaceuticals being the most bought ones. In terms of value, Reliance Industries, SBI, and ITC were the top purchases by MFs, while L&T, Century Textiles, and Ranbaxy topped the sell list.

A study of the top ten mutual funds' equity portfolios, accounting for 74 per cent of the total assets managed by the fund industry as on May 31, which are UTI, Prudential ICICI, HDFC, Templeton, Reliance, SBI, Birla SunLife, Kotak, DSP ML, and HSBC reveals that nine out of the ten MFs added to their investments in the FMCG heavyweight ITC. Pru ICICI MF was the top buyer of the stock with almost 25 lakh shares bought. However, Birla MF pared exposure to the stock. Among other FMCG stocks, Eveready Industries, and Hindustan Lever were among the top 100 buys, while Emami, Dabur, and P&G were among the top sells.

Top shares traded by MFs                             (based on volume)
Top 5 shares bought	No. of Shares
ITC	12,709,622
Reliance Natural Resources	9,748,985
Tube Investments	9,157,144
Ashok Leyland	7,710,484
Bank of Baroda	6,192,393
Top 5 shares sold	No. of Shares
IDFC	5,438,441
Steel Authority of India	3,956,084
Alok Industries	2,242,466
IFCI	2,119,654
Centurion Bank of Punjab	2,115,347

IDFC, the top sell, was sold extensively by Templeton MF with over 81 lakh shares sold. SBI MF also off-loaded the stock, while Reliance and Birla MF made fresh investments in it. Among other banking stocks, BoB, Andhra Bank, SBI, IDBI, and Allahabad Bank topped the buy list, while IFCI, Centurion Bank of Punjab, Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank, and BoI were among the top sells.

Among the IPOs that listed in May, mutual funds bought over 43 lakh shares of Reliance Petroleum, with SBI MF being the top buyer as it bought over 31 lakh shares. HDFC, Pru ICICI, and UTI MF also invested in the Reliance Petroleum IPO. Kotak, and Pru ICICI MF invested heavily in Kamdhenu Ispat with a total of over 22 lakh shares bought. Pru ICICI, HSBC, and UTI MF invested in Plethico Pharmaceuticals IPO with over 10 lakh shares bought.

Top shares traded by MFs                             (based on value)
Top 5 shares bought	Value (Rs in cr)
Reliance Industries	454.22
State Bank of India	244.11
ITC	209.84
Satyam Computer Services	189.67
Hero Honda Motors	171.20
Top 5 shares sold	Value (Rs in cr)
Larsen and Toubro	102.25
Century Textiles and Industries	68.02
Ranbaxy Laboratories	67.91
HCL Technologies	41.70
Steel Authority of India	31.53

Oil and gas major Reliance Industries, the top bought stock in terms of value, was bought by seven out of 10 mutual funds. UTI MF was the top buyer with over 27 lakh shares bought. Other oil and gas stocks HPCL, and Chennai Petroleum also attracted MFs, while BPCL, and ONGC were among the top sells.

Auto stocks Ashok Leyland, M&M, Hero Honda, TVS Motor, and Tata Motors were among the top buys, while Munjal Auto, Sona Koyo, and Gabriel India were sold. Media stocks Zee, INOX Leisure, PVR, Shringar Cinemas, and Deccan Chronicle were bought, while Jagran Prakashan, and Pritish Nandy were among the top sells. In the telecom pack, MTNL, Bharti Airtel, and ITI were among the top buys, and Reliance Communication Ventures was sold.

Selling was seen in metal stocks Sail, Hindalco, Godawari Power & Steel, Visa Steel, and Hindustan Zinc, while Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, Usha Martin were among top buys. Power pivotals NTPC, Reliance Energy Ventures, Tata Power, and Reliance Energy were also sold, while Reliance Natural Resources, and Neyveli were bought.

Among the IT pivotals, Satyam, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro were bought, but heavy selling was seen in HCL Technologies. Among chemical stocks, GSFC, Aarti Industries, and Rain Calcining topped the buy list, while Gulf Oil, Tata Chemicals, and Chambal Fertilisers were among the top sells. 

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