Mutual Funds-Scheme Watch...

Monthly Round up- April 2006

MutualfundsIndia.com

A new month, a new high, this has been the scenario witnessed on the bourses from quite some time. Sensex continued its non stop-run to reach new highs and closed above the crucial 12000 mark at the end of the month. The rise in the market this month could be attributed to good quarterly numbers from corporate and continued money flow from domestic and overseas investors. Sensex and Nifty closed at 12042.56 and 3557.6 at the end of the month posting impressive reruns of 7.68% and 6.06% respectively for the month. The performance of sector indices has been stupendous. BSE Metal continued to be the best performer this month too with a return of 25.69% followed by BSE Oil & Gas and BSE CG with 16.92% and 9.58% respectively.

FII’s continued to pour money in the equity market and bought equities worth Rs 18476.20 crore so far in the current year. This month FIIs made net investments of Rs 521.20 crore down by Rs 6168 crore as compared to last month. MFs emerged as big buyers in equities this month with net investment of Rs 3120 crore.

Mutual Funds performance has not been quite impressive .Out of the 147 diversified equity schemes considered, 28 schemes posted higher returns than Sensex and 60 schemes managed to deliver superior returns than Nifty. Diversified Equity Funds category posted average returns of 5.64%. Basic Industry Funds and Auto Funds were the best performers for the month, generating average returns of 5.60% and 4.42% respectively. Banking Funds were the laggards with negative returns of 1.71%.

The Industry AUM for the month of April increased by 11% from Rs.231358 crore to Rs 257528 crore. Recently formed Quantum AMC witnessed the highest increase in the corpus in percentage terms by 168% from Rs 11.26 crore to Rs 30.12 crore while Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund reported the highest increase in the corpus in absolute terms by Rs 4001.28 and once again moved to second position surpassing Reliance Mutual Fund. Except Sahara MF, Stanchart MF and Benchmark Mutual Fund all fund houses witnessed an increase in assets under management. Benchmark Mutual Fund was the biggest loser in absolute terms by Rs 200 crore.

Top 5 AMCs w.r.t Assets under Management as on April 28, 2006

Sr. No.	Mutual Fund	Apr AUM (Rs Cr)	Mar AUM (Rs Cr)
1	UTI Mutual Fund	30108.87	29519.09
2	Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund	27503.04	23502.12
3	Reliance Mutual Fund	26420.11	24669.65
4	HDFC Mutual Fund	22538.67	21549.78
5	Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund	19639.12	17826.29

Equity Diversified Funds

Equity Diversified	Absolute Returns (%)
SBI Magnum Comma Fund-G	19.29
Deutsche Alpha Equity Fund-G	17.54
Reliance RSF Equity Growth	15.59
HSBC India Opportunities Fund-G	12.00
Sundaram Select Midcap Fund-G	11.94
Average	5.64

(One month return as on 30/04/2006)

Out of the 147 schemes in diversified equity fund category SBI Magnum Comma Fund turned as the best performer with 19.29% return. While the category reported meager 5.64% returns for the same period. Other funds that performed well over the last one month are Deutsche Alpha Equity Fund and Reliance RSF Equity Fund with 17.54% and 15.59% returns respectively.

Equity Linked Saving Schemes (ELSS)

ELSS	Absolute Returns (%)
ABN AMRO Tax Advantage Plan-G	14.90
Prudential ICICI Tax Plan-G	13.54
HDFC Tax Saver-G	9.58
ING Vysya Tax Saving Fund-G	8.58
Tata Tax Saving Fund	8.12
Average	6.33

(One month return as on 30/04/2006)

ELSS Funds put up good performance in the month of April and the category average returns at 6.33% were higher than the returns generated by average Equity Diversified Funds at 5.64%. ABN Amro Tax Advantage Fund is the top performing ELSS scheme for the month delivering 14.90% return and replaced last month’s top performer Principal Tax Saving Fund. Prudential ICICI Tax Plan was the second best performing fund with returns of 13.54 %.

Balanced Funds

Balanced	Absolute Returns (%)
J M Balanced Fund-Growth	7.998
F T India Balanced Fund-G	6.389
Franklin India Balanced Fund-G	6.380
SBI Magnum Balanced Fund-G	6.124
Can Balanced-II	5.897
Average	4.446

(One month return as on 30/04/2006)

Balanced Funds on an average, generated absolute return of 4.44%.J M Balanced Fund topped the balanced fund category with 7.99% returns. F T India Balanced Fund and Franklin India Balanced Fund, both the schemes from Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund turned as the next best performer and gave 6.389% and 6.380% returns respectively.

Monthly Income Plans (MIPs)

MIP	Absolute Returns (%)
Reliance MIP-Growth	3.34
Prudential ICICI Income Multiplier Fund-Cumulative	2.92
ABN AMRO MIP	2.35
Prudential ICICI MIP-Cumulative	2.33
Kotak Income Plus-G	2.26
Average	1.44

(One month return as on 30/04/2006)

Reliance MIP was the topper in the MIP category and posted absolute returns of 3.34%. Prudential ICICI Income Multiplier Fund was the second best performer with returns of 2.92%. Category has reported an average return of 1.44%.

Income Funds
The yield on the benchmark 7.38 per cent GOI 2015 nudged down by 14 basis points to 7.35% at the end of the month. The bond prices surged as yields declined significantly as in the monetary policy review announced on April 18, the RBI kept the Reverse Repo Rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent, as against wide expectations of a 25 basis points hike to 5.75 per cent. But later at the end of month the undertone weakened and bonds reversed some gains on renewed fears over high international oil prices.

Income	Absolute Returns (%)
Chola Income Plus-Growth	1.833
J M Equity & Derivative Fund-Growth	1.275
Principal Income Fund-IP-Growth	1.111
Benchmark Derivative Fund-Growth	1.098
Principal Income Fund-Growth	1.067
Average	0.623

(One month return as on 30/04/2006)

In the Income Fund category, this month too Chola Income Plus Fund was the best performer delivering returns of 1.833% respectively over a last month. High returns could be attributed to its some allocation in equities. While category delivered average 0.62% returns.

Liquid Funds

Call rates eased amid comfortable liquidity conditions in the system and ended at 5.5-5.6% from 6.7-6.9% a month earlier. The liquidity situation improved during the month as RBI continued to infuse the funds through auction.

Liquid	Absolute Returns (%)
Tata Liquidity Management Fund-G	0.569
Canliquid Fund-Growth	0.568
Canliquid Institutional Plan -Growth	0.567
ING Vysya Liquid Fund-Super IP-Growth	0.565
UTI Money Market Fund-G	0.563
Average	0.4957

(One month return as on 30/04/2006)

In the Liquid Fund Category Tata Liquidity Management Fund was the top performer giving absolute returns of 0.569%.Canliquid Fund at second position closely followed Tata Liquidity Management Fund. The scheme generated returns of 0.568 % while the category average returns stood at 0.4957%.