MFs finally beat the market

In November CRISIL Fund-eX, the index for equity funds posted 1.20 per cent gains, whereas the S&P CNX Nifty ended 2.34 per cent down, reports MC Vaijayanthi.

In November CRISIL Fund-eX, the index for equity funds posted 1.20 per cent gains, whereas the S&P CNX Nifty ended 2.34 per cent down. This is only the fifth time in the last 13 months that the CRISIL Fund-eX outperformed the benchmark S&P CNX Nifty. A Crisil release said all Crisil mutual fund indices ended November on a positive note.

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“This is because mid-caps and small-caps in mutual fund portfolios showed a strong performance,” said Crisil.

In the preceding two months the mutual fund returns lagged behind the broader index returns. In September Nifty posted 12.49 per cent returns while Fund-eX posted 10.59 per cent. In October, Nifty returned 17.51 per cent as against 13.75 per cent of Fund-eX.

The assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds too fell in November to Rs 5,42,000 crore against an all-time high of Rs 5,62,000 in October. Twenty-two of the total 32 fund houses registered a decrease in their AUM. “The decline in AUM can be attributed to a combination of tightening of liquidity for banks and corporate investors, equity market volatility, flat growth of fixed maturity plans, outflow on account of IPOs, and the month of festive seasons where individuals end up withdrawing money,” said Krishnan Sitaraman, head-fund services & fixed income research, Crisil.