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

Mutual funds bought metal, telecom, pharma, cement, and oil and gas stocks in August. Selling was seen in auto majors, sugar, power, textile, and construction stocks, while stocks were re-aligned in the IT, and chemical sectors.

Funds bought huge chunks of Exide Industries, and Himatsingka Seide, while diluted exposure to MTNL, and Triveni Engineering.

Equity IPOs were once again hot in the mutual fund portfolios in August with Tech Mahindra stealing the limelight. In terms of value, Reliance Communications, GE Shipping Company, and Aventis Pharma were the top purchases by MFs, while Tata Motors, Hero Honda Motors, and HDFC topped the sell list.

A study of the top ten mutual funds' equity portfolios as on August 31, which are UTI, Prudential ICICI, Reliance, HDFC, Templeton, Standard Chartered, Birla SunLife, SBI, Kotak, and Principal MF reveals that three out of the ten MFs added to their investments in Exide Industries.

Pru ICICI MF was the top buyer of the stock with over 115 lakh shares bought, while UTI and Templeton slashed exposure to Exide. Himatsingka Seide, the second top buy in terms of volume, was bought by HDFC MF. The fund house bought over 65 lakh shares of the stock.

MTNL -- the top sell was sold by five MFs. Pru ICICI MF with over 26.5 lakh shares sold was the top seller of the stock. SBI, Stanchart, and Templeton, however, bought MTNL. Among other telecom stocks, Reliance Communications, VSNL, and Bharti Airtel were bought. Reliance Communications, the top bought stock in terms of value, and was bought by five of the top ten mutual funds. Templeton MF was the top buyer in the stock with over 41 lakh shares bought.

Among the IPOs that listed in August, Tech Mahindra was the most popular one with a total of over 16.6 lakh shares bought by six of the top 10 MFs, followed by GMR Infrastructure with over 4.6 lakh shares bought. Reliance and Pru ICICI MF were the top investors in Tech Mahindra with over 7.97 lakh and 6.97 lakh shares purchased.

SBI, UTI, Principal, and Birla MF were the others who invested in this recently listed IPO. Meanwhile, UTI MF was the sole investor in GMR Infrastructure.

Auto major Tata Motors, the top sell value-wise was sold by eight of the 10 funds. UTI MF was the top seller with over 10.4 lakh shares sold. Meanwhile, Pru ICICI and Stanchart MF added to their investments in the stock. Among other auto stocks, Hero Honda, Clutch Auto, M&M, Denso, Ucal Fuel were sold, while Ashok Leyland was among the top buys.

Sugar, textile, construction, and power stocks too weighed heavy on the sell list. Sugar stocks Triveni Engineering, Bajaj Hindustan, EID Parry, and Ugar Sugar were sold, while Balrampur Chini was bought. In the textile pack, Arvind Mills, Bombay Rayon, and Welspun India topped the sell list.

Power pivotals NTPC, Reliance Natural Resources, and Gipco were sold, but Reliance Energy was bought. Construction majors IVRCL, Jaiprakash Associates, and Noida Toll Bridge were among the top 50 stocks sold, but HCC was a prominent buy.

Pharma stocks Lupin, Cipla, FDC, and Aventis Pharma were among the top buys. Metal pivotals Shri Ramrupai, SAIL, ISMT, Sterlite Industries, Kamdhenu Ispat, and GMDC attracted MFs, while Nalco was sold. Cement majors Gujarat Ambuja Cement, India Cements, and ACC were bought. In the oil and gas pack, funds invested in HPCL, HOEC, and ONGC, but sold BPCL, and Reliance Industries.

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