Mutual funds predominantly bought engineering, media, pharma, and oil and gas stocks in July, while they continued to be bearish on the metal stocks. Telecom, FMCG, particularly sugar stocks too weighed heavy on their sell list, while stocks were re-aligned in the banking, cement, IT, auto, and power sectors. They bought huge chunks of IDFC, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, and NTPC, while diluted exposure to Hindalco, Hindustan Lever, and Balrampur Chini.
In terms of value, Reliance Industries, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, and NTPC were the top purchases by MFs, while ICICI Bank, Hindustan Lever, and Bharti Airtel topped the sell list.
| Top shares traded by MFs (based on volume) | |
| Top 5 shares bought | No. of Shares |
| IDFC | 10,148,660 |
| Gujarat Ambuja Cements | 9,778,526 |
| NTPC | 8,043,298 |
| Syndicate Bank | 3,717,891 |
| India Cements | 3,642,205 |
| Top 5 shares sold | No. of Shares |
| Hindalco Industries | 5,869,742 |
| Hindustan Lever | 5,694,525 |
| Balrampur Chini Mills | 4,583,182 |
| ICICI Bank | 4,342,109 |
| IVRCL Infrastructure | 3,189,447 |
A study of the top ten mutual funds' equity portfolios as on July 31, which are Prudential ICICI, UTI, Reliance, HDFC, Templeton, Birla SunLife, SBI, Standard Chartered, Kotak, and Tata MF reveals that four out of the ten MFs added to their investments in the banking and finance pivotal IDFC. Templeton MF was the top buyer of the stock with almost 101 lakh shares bought.
Among other banking and finance stocks, Syndicate Bank, Centurion Bank, and Bank of India topped the buy list, while ICICI Bank, Dena Bank, and Oriental Bank of Commerce were among the top sells. ICICI Bank was the top sold stock in terms of value. It was sold by five out of 10 mutual funds. Templeton MF was the top seller with over 27.8 lakh shares sold.
Hindalco Industries, the top sell, was sold six out of the ten MFs. Reliance MF was the top seller of the stock with over 47.8 lakh shares sold. Templeton, Birla, SBI, Tata, and StanChart MF also off-loaded the stock, while HDFC, UTI, and Pru ICICI MF made additional investments in it. Among other metal stocks, Sail, Hindustan Zinc, and ISMT were among the top sells, while JSW Steel was the only buy in the top 50 list.
Engineering stocks Crompton Greaves, LG Balakrishnan, GEI Hamon were among the top buys, while Cummins India and KEC Infrastructures were sold. Media stocks Zee, Jagran Prakashan, and Sun TV were among the top buys.
Oil and gas major Reliance Industries, the top bought stock in terms of value, was bought by four out of 10 mutual funds. Templeton MF was the top buyer with over 18.5 lakh shares bought. Other oil and gas stocks HPCL also attracted MFs.
Top shares traded by MFs (based on value)
Top 5 shares bought
Value (Rs in cr)
Reliance Industries
123.46
Gujarat Ambuja Cements
102.38
NTPC
92.70
State Bank of India
81.99
Sun TV
74.89
Top 5 shares sold
Value (Rs in cr)
ICICI Bank
240.57
Hindustan Lever
132.26
Bharti Airtel
104.07
Satyam Computer Services
103.68
Hindalco Industries
94.59
Pharma stocks Cipla, Ranbaxy Labs too attracted MFs. Buying was also seen in power pivotals NTPC, Reliance Energy, and Jaiprakash Hydro-Power.
In the telecom pack, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, and MTNL were among the top sells. Sugar stocks Balrampur Chini Mills, Bajaj Hindustan, and Sakthi Sugars were sold, while EID Parry figured among the top buys. FMCG pivotals Hindustan Lever, and Dabur too were sold.
Cement and construction stocks Gujarat Ambuja Cement , India Cements, Gammon India, Patel Engineering, and Jaiprakash Associates were bought, while IVRCL Infrastructure, and Hindustan Construction Company were among top sells.
Among the IT pivotals, MphasiS BFL, Tulip IT, Northgate Technologies, HCL Technologies, and Hexaware Techologies were bought, while selling was seen in Satyam, 3i Infotech, Aptech, and Visualsoft. Among auto stocks, Ashok Leyland, Rico Auto, and Escorts topped the buy list, while Maruti, Hero Honda, and TVS Motors were among the top sells.
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