Dsp Merrill Bond Fund Returns Soar

A study of bond funds has put DSP Merrill Lynch Bond Fund, with a return of 16.24 per cent over the last six months ended February 11, 2000, at the top of the pecking order.

The Templeton Income Plan takes the second slot with a return of 15.53 per cent.

Alliance Liquid Income with a return of 15.42 per cent, Prudential Bond Fund _ 15.21 per cent and Birla Income Plus Plan-B _ 14.17 per cent are the other top performers in order of rate of return.

DSPML Bond Fund, with a current corpus of Rs 1,105 crore, is however, the third largest pure debt fund in the country. Birla Income Plus tops in debt fund with corpus of Rs 1,826 crore followed by ICICI Income Plan with corpus of around Rs 1,600 crore.

R Sreesankar, investment officer at DSP Merrill Lynch, attributes this to prudent allocation of assets in government securities.

The bond has, in fact, turned out to be major gainer with a one month annualised return of 40.50 per cent.

The shift in investment strategy, by allocating 55 per cent of assets towards gilts and 38 per cent in corporate debt paper, played a major role in giving high rate of return.