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

Mutual funds predominantly bought auto, FMCG, media, and telecom stocks in May. Metal, and power stocks weighed heavy on their sell list, while stocks were re-aligned in the banking, chemical, cement, oil and gas pack. They bought huge chunks of FMCG heavyweight ITC, while diluted exposure to IDFC [ Get Quote ].

MFs also participated in the IPO party with Reliance Petroleum [ Get Quote ], Kamdhenu Ispat [ Get Quote ], and Plethico Pharmaceuticals [ Get Quote ] being the most bought ones. In terms of value, Reliance Industries [ Get Quote ], SBI [ Get Quote ], and ITC were the top purchases by MFs, while L&T, Century Textiles [ Get Quote ], and Ranbaxy [ Get Quote ] topped the sell list.

A study of the top ten mutual funds' equity portfolios, accounting for 74 per cent of the total assets managed by the fund industry as on May 31, which are UTI, Prudential ICICI [ Get Quote ], HDFC [ Get Quote ], Templeton, Reliance, SBI, Birla SunLife, Kotak, DSP ML, and HSBC reveals that nine out of the ten MFs added to their investments in the FMCG heavyweight ITC. Pru ICICI MF was the top buyer of the stock with almost 25 lakh shares bought. However, Birla MF pared exposure to the stock. Among other FMCG stocks, Eveready Industries, and Hindustan Lever [ Get Quote ] were among the top 100 buys, while Emami, Dabur [ Get Quote ], and P&G were among the top sells.

Top shares traded by MFs                             (based on volume)
Top 5 shares bought	No. of Shares
ITC	12,709,622
Reliance Natural Resources [ Get Quote ]	9,748,985
Tube Investments	9,157,144
Ashok Leyland [ Get Quote ]	7,710,484
Bank of Baroda [ Get Quote ]	6,192,393
Top 5 shares sold	No. of Shares
IDFC	5,438,441
Steel Authority of India	3,956,084
Alok Industries [ Get Quote ]	2,242,466
IFCI	2,119,654
Centurion Bank of Punjab [ Get Quote ]	2,115,347

IDFC, the top sell, was sold extensively by Templeton MF with over 81 lakh shares sold. SBI MF also off-loaded the stock, while Reliance and Birla MF made fresh investments in it. Among other banking stocks, BoB, Andhra Bank [ Get Quote ], SBI, IDBI, and Allahabad Bank [ Get Quote ] topped the buy list, while IFCI, Centurion Bank of Punjab, Syndicate Bank [ Get Quote ], Vijaya Bank [ Get Quote ], and BoI were among the top sells.

Among the IPOs that listed in May, mutual funds bought over 43 lakh shares of Reliance Petroleum, with SBI MF being the top buyer as it bought over 31 lakh shares. HDFC, Pru ICICI, and UTI MF also invested in the Reliance Petroleum IPO. Kotak, and Pru ICICI MF invested heavily in Kamdhenu Ispat with a total of over 22 lakh shares bought. Pru ICICI, HSBC, and UTI MF invested in Plethico Pharmaceuticals IPO with over 10 lakh shares bought.

Top shares traded by MFs                             (based on value)
Top 5 shares bought	Value (Rs in cr)
Reliance Industries	454.22
State Bank of India	244.11
ITC	209.84
Satyam Computer Services [ Get Quote ]	189.67
Hero Honda Motors [ Get Quote ]	171.20
Top 5 shares sold	Value (Rs in cr)
Larsen and Toubro	102.25
Century Textiles and Industries	68.02
Ranbaxy Laboratories	67.91
HCL Technologies [ Get Quote ]	41.70
Steel Authority of India	31.53

Oil and gas major Reliance Industries, the top bought stock in terms of value, was bought by seven out of 10 mutual funds. UTI MF was the top buyer with over 27 lakh shares bought. Other oil and gas stocks HPCL [ Get Quote ], and Chennai Petroleum also attracted MFs, while BPCL [ Get Quote ], and ONGC [ Get Quote ] were among the top sells.

Auto stocks Ashok Leyland, M&M, Hero Honda, TVS [ Get Quote ] Motor, and Tata Motors [ Get Quote ] were among the top buys, while Munjal Auto, Sona Koyo, and Gabriel India [ Get Quote ] were sold. Media stocks Zee, INOX Leisure [ Get Quote ], PVR, Shringar Cinemas [ Get Quote ], and Deccan Chronicle were bought, while Jagran Prakashan [ Get Quote ], and Pritish Nandy [ Images ] were among the top sells. In the telecom pack, MTNL [ Get Quote ], Bharti Airtel [ Get Quote ], and ITI were among the top buys, and Reliance Communication Ventures was sold.

Selling was seen in metal stocks Sail [ Get Quote ], Hindalco [ Get Quote ], Godawari Power & Steel, Visa Steel [ Get Quote ], and Hindustan Zinc [ Get Quote ], while Tata Steel [ Get Quote ], Sterlite Industries, Usha Martin [ Get Quote ] were among top buys. Power pivotals NTPC, Reliance Energy [ Get Quote ] Ventures, Tata Power [ Get Quote ], and Reliance Energy were also sold, while Reliance Natural Resources, and Neyveli [ Get Quote ] were bought.

Among the IT pivotals, Satyam, Infosys [ Get Quote ], TCS [ Get Quote ], and Wipro [ Get Quote ] were bought, but heavy selling was seen in HCL Technologies. Among chemical stocks, GSFC, Aarti Industries [ Get Quote ], and Rain Calcining [ Get Quote ] topped the buy list, while Gulf Oil, Tata Chemicals [ Get Quote ], and Chambal Fertilisers were among the top sells. 

For more on mutual fund action in the market, click here