Stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been on fire in the past year as investors cheered an improvement in key operating metrics and embraced counters of these state-owned enterprises, analysts suggest. The S&P BSE PSU Index has gained over 90 per cent in the past year, rising much higher than the S&P BSE Sensex, which has rose nearly 19 per cent during this period, according to ACE Equity data. The BSE PSU Index, reports show, has delivered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 per cent (including dividends reinvestments) over five years and risen by almost 60 per cent in the past year.
Floating-rate mutual funds are back in demand after a year-long period of consistent outflows. In the past three months, investors have poured over Rs 6,100 crore into these debt schemes, indicating a reversal in fortunes for the category that recorded outflows for 11 consecutive months (May 2022 to March 2023), totalling Rs 32,250 crore. Floating-rate funds invest at least 65 per cent in floating-rate instruments, which have their interest rates linked to the Reserve Bank of India repo rate.
A strong appetite for gold on Friday's Dhanteras is expected this year due to auspicious reasons and geopolitical concerns, continuing the 2022 trend driven by pent-up COVID demand. Compared to last year's Dhanteras, gold prices have jumped 22 per cent and silver prices by 21 per cent, respectively. "Gold and silver are good for portfolio diversification, especially in times of geopolitical turbulence.
'They can shift to dynamic asset allocation funds to automatically rebalance their equity exposure.'
'Just keep investing a steady amount every month irrespective of what the media says about the direction of the market,' advises Jyotivardhan Jaipuria, Managing Director, DSP Merrill Lynch, India.
Quant funds have a very short track record, and have underperformed so far, reveals Sarbajeet K Sen.
Treat silver as part of the procyclical or growth assets in your portfolio, advises Sanjay Kumar Singh.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Mutual fund (MF) houses have started realigning their overseas product offerings after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) advised them to stop subscriptions. PPFAS Asset Management has decided to suspend transactions in Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund with effect from February 2, 2022. Though new lump-sum and systematic investment plans (SIPs) will not be accepted, existing SIPs and systematic transfer plans (STPs) will continue.
Sachin Tendulkar has recently made an equity investment of $2 million in digital entertainment and technology company JetSynthesys. The investment further strengthens Tendulkar's relationship with JetSynthesys, as the two already have an existing joint venture for a digital destination for all things cricket, called 100MB, and immersive cricket games Sachin Saga Cricket Champions and Sachin Saga VR. With this investment, Tendulkar joins the bandwagon of existing shareholders of JetSynthesys, who include Adar Poonawalla, Kris Gopalakrishnan, and the multi-billion-dollar family offices of the promoters of Thermax, Triveni Group, Yohan Poonawalla Group and DSP Group.
S Nagnath, President and CIO of DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund in an extensive interview talks about his fund's investment strategy, his team of fund managers and why some of his company's funds have a huge portfolio of 50 to 60 stocks.
Wondering if mutual fund investments can help you make you enough money for your retirement and child's marriage? Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Debt fund managers are reassessing their strategies after the setback delivered by the Reserve Bank of India recently. While most are refraining from any knee-jerk reaction to the central bank's surprise open market operation (OMO) announcements, they are taking a re-look at the duration of their schemes. Sandeep Yadav, head of fixed income at DSP Mutual Fund, said it has trimmed the duration of some schemes, considering the hawkish stance by the RBI.
They are making switch to the high-growth alternative investments fund industry, reports Pavan Burugula.
Retail investors now own a bigger slice of small-cap companies than a couple of years earlier, attributable to their growing conviction in mutual fund (MF) schemes focused on this space. Data from Capitaline shows MFs' average holding in the National Stock Exchange Nifty Smallcap 250 rising to 8.67 per cent, from 7.67 per cent in the past two financial years, with the number of companies with over 20 per cent MF holdings, rising from 15 to 24. At the end of May, the top five small-cap firms with the highest MF holdings were Carborundum Universal, Blue Star, Cyient, Gujarat State Petronet, and Cholamandalam Finance.
Sanjay Kumar Singh suggests key factors investors need to keep an eye on while choosing the direct investment route.
Mutual funds (MFs) are betting on a turnaround in the healthcare sector to boost returns but are divided on the prospects of the information technology (IT) sector amid uncertain growth outlook. At the end of June, all of the top 20 fund houses were overweight on the healthcare sector vis--vis the sector's presence in the BSE 200 index, shows a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFS). In the case of the IT sector, only six of the 20 fund houses had overweight positions.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
When selecting investments, pay attention to potential return, risk and how easily you can exit it.
In contrast with their strong performance in 2020 and 2021, pharmaceutical and healthcare funds experienced a decline in 2022, with returns plummeting by an average 9.8 per cent. This trend has continued in the current year, with year-to-date return remaining in the negative (-4.9 per cent). In the past three months, pharma funds have been hit hard, experiencing a 7.9 per cent decline.
Mutual funds have launched a clutch of new fund offers in the silver ETF (exchange traded fund) category this year and collected Rs 1,400 crore in assets after the introduction of the newly-created investment asset class by market regulator Sebi in 2021. Further, fund houses including Kotak Asset Management Company have filed draft documents with the markets regulator to float silver ETF as well as silver ETF fund of funds for investors, information with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed. These NFOs (new fund offers) are providing an opportunity to the investors to digitally invest and own silver which is easily tradable during market hours.
Investors who decide to enter medium to long-duration funds should be cognisant of the risk.
S Nagnath, President and CIO of DSP ML Mutual Fund says that he is bullish on the real estate sector. He also explains his logic behind starting a micro-cap fund and why investors can put their money in the same.
'It could tempt investors to pick stocks that are not fundamentally sound.'
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, answers your queries.
Silver, which is currently trading at Rs 68,453 per kilogram, has appreciated 21.7 per cent over the past three months. Investors, however, shouldn't get carried away by its recent performance and put their money in it. Instead, they should evaluate its pros and cons and then take a considered decision based on their risk appetite.
The SIP route suits the salaried class, by matching their income flows with investment frequency.
Investors not stop their SIPs or STPs due to election-related uncertainty.
HDFC Equity, the largest equity fund, also managed by Prashant Jain, with a corpus of Rs 10,445 crore, has 9.4 per cent of its assets in SBI.
Subramaniam feels it does make sense to have some overlay in lump sum if one has the cash to do so.
The pension fund managers distribute products under the National Pension System.
Investors who are enamored by thematic funds (especially infrastructure funds) must not lose sight of the fact that diversified equity funds (which include opportunities funds) can make aggressive sectoral/thematic calls. More importantly, they can exit the sector/theme when valuations peak; this is something thematic funds cannot do because they are bound by their mandates to remain invested in the theme regardless of the valuations.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
It is best not to get carried away by returns or take a short-term view of the markets, says Bhavana Acharya.
With the Sensex again nearing 28,000 points, investors can make good returns with a one-two year horizon.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries
Education finance is a complex and dynamic sector. There are too many variables -- the course, the calibre of students, the universities, and the job prospects once the course is over, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.