mutual fundImage Credit source: ai generated
Mutual funds bought financial stocks worth about Rs 55,413 crore in March, which was 49 percent of their total inflows in the secondary market that month. This happened when Indian markets witnessed a huge fall amid US-Iran-Israel tensions. Mutual funds were active buyers in the secondary market, and bought stocks worth about Rs 1.13 lakh crore in March. Despite the buying, the total asset value of mutual funds declined to Rs 46.6 lakh crore from Rs 51.29 lakh crore in February. However, the share of mutual funds in the total market cap increased to 11.3 percent from 11.1 percent a month ago.
Despite heavy selling in banking stocks, strong buying was seen in financial stocks. Nifty Bank fell 17 percent in March, while Nifty Financial Services declined 15.6 percent. Both the indices recorded their biggest monthly decline since March 2020. Financial stocks remained under pressure on concerns that rising sovereign bond yields could lead to ‘mark-to-market’ losses on banks’ government securities portfolios. India’s 10-year bond yield rose by more than 37 basis points in March to cross 7 percent, a one-year high.
shopping done here also
Apart from financial stocks, mutual funds also made strong purchases in consumer discretionary stocks, where they bought shares worth Rs 16,366 crore. There was an inflow of Rs 14,656 crore in telecom stocks, while investment of Rs 5,717 crore came in IT stocks. Other big sectors with purchases by mutual funds included commodities at Rs 4,883 crore, healthcare at Rs 4,178 crore and industrials at Rs 4,139 crore. There was an inflow of Rs 3,795 crore in FMCG stocks, while investment of Rs 3,548 crore came in the services sector.
In March, amid global tensions, a decline was seen everywhere in the Indian markets. Benchmarks BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 both fell by 11.5 per cent. BSE MidCap 150 fell by 10.8 per cent, while BSE SmallCap 250 fell by 10.3 per cent.
FII sold heavily
On the contrary, foreign investors (FIIs) were selling on a large scale. He sold shares worth about Rs 1.26 lakh crore in the secondary market during March. Of this, shares worth about Rs 60,000 crore were sold from the financial sector, followed by auto shares worth Rs 12,500 crore.
Construction and metal sectors saw a withdrawal of Rs 9,154 crore and Rs 3,165 crore from FIIs, respectively. There was selling of Rs 5,419 crore and Rs 2,141 crore in FMCG and consumer services, while there was withdrawal of Rs 4,693 crore and Rs 4,638 crore in realty and healthcare sectors.
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