12 Equity Funds Outperformed Sensex, Nifty

Twelve equity funds outperformed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex and the S&P CNX Nifty between September 28 and November 13.

A study on the net asset value (NAV) of 16 equity schemes with a corpus of more than Rs 50 crore during the period shows that the schemes have registered more than a double-digit growth in NAVs against a 9.5 per cent rise in Sensex and a 10 per cent jump in Nifty.

The Unit Trust of India's schemes were not considered for the study owing to unavailability of their latest portfolio details.

The trigger for the growth in technology funds was the increase in frontline software stock prices. Infosys Technologies was up 22 per cent, Satyam Computer (up 23 per cent) and HCL Technologies (up 39 per cent). All these stocks outperformed the two market indicators by wide margins.

Pioneer ITI Infotech witnessed a 25 per cent rise in NAV, Alliance New Millennium (up 21.6 per cent), Prudential ICICI Technology (up 16.8 per cent) and Pioneer ITI Bluechip (up 16.4 per cent).

Pioneer ITI Tax Shield, Pioneer ITI Internet Opportunity Fund, IL&FS Growth & Value, Alliance Equity, Templeton India Growth, Pioneer ITI Prima Plus, Prudential ICICI Growth and SBI Magnum Equity Fund outperformed the indices with a growth between 12 and 15 per cent.

Among the 12 schemes, 10 managed higher returns as against their market valuation of their portfolios as on September end. These schemes achieved this feet owing to smart portfolio reshuffling by fund managers.

Pioneer ITI Infotech, the largest gainer, witnessed a higher return of 25 per cent. The scheme's heavy weightage to Infosys Technologies (23 per cent of the corpus) and HCL Technologies (11.1 per cent of the corpus) paid well. Both these stocks have outperformed the market indices during the period with a gain of more than 20 per cent.

Alliance New Millennium, with a NAV of Rs 3.04, notched a 22 per cent return, much higher than its a 16.6 per cent valuation of portfolio as on September 2001.

Similarly, the fund's largest scheme Alliance Equity with a corpus of Rs 270 crore managed a 14.1 per cent return.

Pioneer ITI Mutual Fund's three more schemes with a corpus of more than Rs 50 crore also managed higher returns. The star performer among this was Pioneer ITI Bluechip, a diversified, equity-oriented scheme with a return of 16.4 per cent. The scheme was way ahead of a 12.18 per cent gain its market valuation of portfolio.

Inclusion of non-Sensex scrips such as Hero Honda and VSNL which surged more than 20 per cent cushioned the schemes' performance.