What MFs bought and sold in November

L&T had declined as much as 10% in November and was available nearly 20% off its one-year high, prompting MFs to buy shares worth Rs 1,450 crore

Nearly Rs 8,000 crore was invested by equity mutual funds (MFs) in 10 stocks in November amid a sharp correction in the market. Their most-preferred bet remained Larsen & Toubro (L&T) followed by Sun Pharmaceutical. L&T had declined as much as 10 per cent in November and was available nearly 20 per cent off its one-year high, prompting MFs to buy shares worth Rs 1,450 crore. In recent months, this is the largest amount of money pumped in a single stock.  Sun Pharma also saw heaving buying as its stock too took a beating due to regulatory issues. Notably, both pharmaceutical and IT companies sectors, after few quarters of neglect, are back on equity MFs’ radar. On the other hand, despite weakness cement stocks like ACC, Ambuja and UltraTech didn’t find much favour. Fund managers say the sector could see further weakness due to demonetisation. Oil stocks such as BPCL, HPCL and ONGC saw also some offloading by MFs even as their prices rallied.