Bank funds offer best weekly returns

All equity funds, barring tax planners and fast-moving consumer goods schemes, registered positive average weekly return in week ended Friday.

Banking sector-dedicated funds that offered 1.53 per cent average return topped the chart compared with all other categories of funds, while CNX Bank Index rose 3.06 per cent during the period.

WHO PERFORMED, WHO DIDN’T

Banking sector-dedicated funds that offered 1.53% average return topped the chart

Among equity schemes, the next best performing categories were index funds and automobile funds with 0.55% and 0.26% average returns

In other sector-dedicated schemes, FMCG funds were worst hit, registering negative 0.07% average returns

Gold exchange-traded funds recorded negative returns of 3.49%, the lowest among all categories

Last week, banking sector schemes Lotus India Banking-Retail, Reliance Banking Fund, JM Financial Services Sector, UTI Banking Sector-Regular, and ICICI Prudential Banking and Financial Services-Retail posted 2.94 per cent, 2.57 per cent, 2.33 per cent, 2.09 per cent and 0.88 per cent average returns, respectively.

However, Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities-Institutional, and Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities-Retail posted negative returns of 0.04 per cent, and 0.05 per cent.

Among equity schemes, the next best performing categories were index funds and automobile funds that gave 0.55 per cent and 0.26 per cent, average returns, beating its benchmark indices, respectively, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex and National Stock Exchange’s Nifty fell 0.55 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively, in the previous week due to weak overseas cues. BSE Auto Index fell 0.45 per cent last week.

JM Auto Sector Fund and UTI Transportation and Logistics Fund—the only schemes under the automobile funds’ category — posted 0.29 per cent and 0.23 per cent returns, respectively.

Information technology schemes that offered an average weekly return of 0.15 per cent, were higher than CNX IT Index that rose merely 0.02 per cent, while BSE IT Index fell 0.63 per cent during the period under review.

Among other sector-dedicated schemes, FMCG funds were worst hit, registering negative 0.07 per cent average returns last week. It also under performed BSE FMCG Index that rose 0.04 per cent.

Pharmaceutical funds gave 0.05 per cent average returns, compared with BSE Healthcare Index that tumbled 1.25 per cent. Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), that seek to track the trend in domestic gold prices, recorded negative returns of 3.49 per cent, the lowest among categories.

Domestic gold prices fell last week tracking the broad trend in overseas yellow metal prices, and fall in global crude oil prices.

In the Mumbai spot market, pure gold closed at Rs 11,670 per 10 gm on Friday, down 2.83 per cent from August 29.

Returns from Quantum Gold Fund, Reliance Gold Exchange Traded Fund, Kotak Gold Exchange Traded Fund, Gold Benchmark Exchange Traded Fund, and UTI Gold Exchange Traded Fund, delivered negative 3.33 per cent, 3.51 per cent, 3.53 per cent, 3.53 per cent, and 3.54 per cent, respectively.