MF energy exposure off 280 bps since July, at near 3-yr low; IT at new high

According to one analysis, about 6.9% of equity scheme assets were invested in energy firms, close to 12% in IT

Mutual fund (MF) exposure to oil and gas stocks hit a 30-month low, while that to information technology (IT) shares logged a new high in January. According to an analysis done by Motilal Oswal, about 6.9 per cent of the equity scheme assets were invested in energy companies, while close to 12 per cent in IT.

Since July, the exposure to oil & gas stocks has come off by 280 basis points. The sector is now has slipped to sixth position when it comes to MF sectoral exposure. In July, with an exposure of 9.7 per cent—the sector was in third place behind financials and IT. Exposure to IT stocks, on the other hand, has gone up from 8.7 per cent in July to 11.9 per cent in January.

Money managers are still underweight on the IT sector space, as its weightage in the BSE 200 index is about 13.8 per cent. The weightage of the oil & gas sector is 10.3 per cent. Healthcare (over-owned by 18 schemes), Capital Goods (16), Chemicals (16), Cement (8) and Telecom (7) are sectors were MFs are largely overweight vis-à-vis their weightage in the BSE 200 index. Meanwhile, Oil & Gas (under-owned by 19 schemes), NBFCs (17), Consumer (17), Technology (15), and Utilities (14) are the most under-owned sectors, according to Motilal Oswal.