MF fund flow
After a strong upsurge in March, the domestic equity market remained almost flat in April. The equity mutual funds witnessed a massive outflow of Rs836 crore in April after positive net inflows of Rs790 cr during the previous month. The dreary performance of the broader equities market during the month along with net outflows from the schemes led the AUMs of equity funds to grow to Rs217,475 cr from Rs216,284 cr in the previous month, which is a rise of a meager 0.6%.

The FIIs once again bought aggressively in April to the tune of Rs7,213.3 crore as against net buying of Rs6,897.5 cr in the previous month, thereby reflecting their confidence in the economy.

Performance of equity fund categories
The domestic equity markets delivered a dreary performance during the month. MNC funds that intend to focus on multinational companies topped the scoreboard with a 4.85% growth on an average. This category was followed by the FMCG sector funds which grew in line with their sector benchmark index.

The FMCG funds posted a 4.5% return over the month. The HSBC Small Cap Fund became the top performer among all the equity fund categories delivering a 6.85% growth over the month. The fund’s performance was in line with the benchmark BSE Small Cap index. The fund is tilted towards small-cap stocks while it maintains some proportion in mid-cap stocks and takes no large-cap exposure.

The info-tech sector funds touched the bottom of the scoreboard this month with a loss of 2.08%. The banking and finance sector funds were the second worst performers for the month.