Mutual funds' exposure to IT stocks hits 4-month low in April

According to market experts, fund managers are shifting focus to sectors like automobile and capital goods, as against IT space that are more dependent on global factors

Investments by mutual fund (MF) houses in software shares hit a four-month low of around Rs 34,100 crore at the end of April, compared with Rs 36,121 crore in the previous month, according to the data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

This was their lowest level of funds allocation in software shares since December 2014, when the total value of mutual fund investments in the sector stood at Rs 33,970 crore. Beside, exposure to information technology stocks was at 9.43 per cent, against 10.02 per cent in the preceding month.

In comparison, equity fund managers' fund allocation in IT stocks stood at Rs 24,438 crore in April 2014.     

According to experts, fund managers are shifting focus to sectors like automobile and capital goods, against IT space that are more dependent on global factors.

MF is an investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.

The BSE's benchmark Sensex witnessed a drop of 3.4 per cent during the period under review.

IT was the second-most preferred sector with fund mangers after banks, which has an exposure of Rs 74,810 crore.

Besides, pharma witnessed a deployment of Rs 27,587 crore, followed by automobile (Rs 24,544 crore) and finance (Rs 22,425 crore).