Big mutual fund buys in June see turbulence

Equity mutual funds (MFs) deployed maximum in shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) in June at Rs 2,177 crore, followed by Maruti Suzuki (Rs 2,045 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 1,310 crore).

Shares of both RIL and Bharti Airtel have been turbulent this month.

On July 1, shares of RIL crashed over 7 per cent, following the government imposing windfall taxes on domestic crude oil production and fuel exports.

Shares of Airtel, too, declined this month amid uncertainty around Adani’s foray into the telecommunications sector.

Maruti Suzuki shares, however, continued to race ahead on the back of improved outlook for the automotive sector.

NTPC and HDFC were among the top five buys for equity MFs in June. Fund managers used the weakness in these two counters to accumulate more shares.

Tata Steel saw maximum selling by domestic funds in June at Rs 876 crore, leading to an 18 per cent drop in the country’s leading steelmaker.

MFs pulled out over Rs 600 crore each from Ambuja Cements and State Bank of India.

Equity MFs net-bought shares worth Rs 22,000 crore last month, even as overseas funds yanked out Rs 49,400 crore.