Most bought Nifty 50 stocks by MFs in Sept: Adani Ports, Eicher Motor, UPL

Mutual funds were net buyers of 64 per cent of Nifty 50's stocks in September. The highest month-on-month net buying in September 2023 was observed in Adani Ports (+14.2%), Eicher Motors (+11%), UPL (+9.8%), HDFC Life (+7.1%), and Bajaj Auto (+6.9%), shows data analysed by brokerage Motilal Oswal.

These were followed by Wipro, Tata Motors, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Grasim Industries, Hindalco, Reliance Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank. 

Most bought Nifty Midcap-100 stocks
Mutual funds were net buyers in 50 per cent of Nifty Midcap-100 stocks. The highest MoM net buying in Sep’23 was seen in L&T Finance Holdings , Vodafone Idea, FACT, Aditya Birla Capital, and Rail Vikas Nigam.

In the small-cap space, mutual funds were net buyers in 53 per cent of the stocks.  The highest MoM net buying in Sep’23 was witnessed in BSE, Happiest Minds, JBM Auto, Hindustan Copper, and Mahanagar Gas. This was followed by RBL Bank, Praj Industries, Bikaji Foods, Glenmark Pharma, Piramal Pharma, HFCL. 

Even though total assets under management( AUM) for the mutual fund industry remained flat on a monthly basis at Rs 46.6 trillion in September 2023, equity AUM for domestic MFs (including ELSS and index funds) increased 2.5 per cent in the same period to Rs 21 trillion, fueled by a rise in market indices (Nifty up 2% MoM), said Motilal Oswal in a report. 

 Notably, September witnessed a decline in sales of equity schemes (down 5.2 per cent month-on-month to Rs 461 billion. The pace of redemptions picked up to Rs 305  billion (up 15.4% MoM).

There was a month-on-month increase in AUM for equities (Rs 513 billion), balanced (Rs 161 billion), other ETFs (Rs 143 billion), and arbitrage (Rs 104 billion) funds but it was offset by a MoM decline in AUM for liquid (Rs 799 billion) and income funds (Rs 156 billion).

The Nifty-50 reached the milestone of 20,000 in September 2023. Domestic institutional investors recorded significant inflows of $2.4 billion in September 23 while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned sellers of $2.3 billion in Sep’23 after remaining net buyers for six months.

Most bought small-cap stocks
In the small-cap space, mutual funds were net buyers in 53 per cent of the stocks.  The highest MoM net buying in Sep’23 was witnessed in BSE, Happiest Minds, JBM Auto, Hindustan Copper, and Mahanagar Gas. This was followed by RBL Bank, Praj Industries, Bikaji Foods, Glenmark Pharma, Piramal Pharma, HFCL. 

 Top 10 stocks that saw the maximum MoM increase in value were NTPC, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, and Power Grid Corp.

 Stocks that witnessed the maximum decline in MoM value were HDFC Bank, Coforge, Supreme Industries, Navin Fluorine, Cipla, NHPC, Kajaria Ceramics, Pidilite Industries, M&M, and Infosys.

Among the top 25 mutual fund schemes by AUM, the following reported the highest MoM increase: ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund (+3.5% MoM change in NAV), HDFC Top 100 Fund (+3.4% MoM), Nippon India Growth Fund (+2.9% MoM), ICICI Pru Bluechip Fund (+2.9% MoM), Axis Long Term Equity Fund (+2.4% MoM).

Even though September saw a 5.2 per cent decline in the sale of equity schemes to Rs 461 billion, investors continued to park their money in mutual funds, with inflows/contributions in systematic investment plans (SIPs) reaching a new high of Rs 160.4 billion (up 1.4% MoM and 23.6% YoY).

Some interesting facts as per Motilal Oswal 

1.  The month saw notable changes in the sector and stock allocation of funds. On an MoM basis, the weights of Utilities, NBFCs, PSU Banks, Automobiles, Healthcare, Telecom, and Cement increased, while that of Private Banks, Technology, Consumer, Oil & Gas, and Chemicals moderated.
2.  Utilities’ weight jumped to a 35-month high of 3.8% (+30bp MoM and +60bp YoY) in September 23.
3.  Healthcare’s weight climbed for the fourth consecutive month to a 17-month high of 6.8% (+10bp MoM, +20bp YoY).
4.  Private Banks’ weight moderated for the third consecutive month to 18.9% (-30bp MoM, +70bp YoY) in Sep’23.
5.  Oil & Gas’ weight declined for the fifth consecutive month in Sep’23 to 5.7% (-10bp MoM, -30bp YoY), the lowest since Nov’15.
6.  In terms of value change MoM, divergent interests were seen within sectors: Top 5 stocks that increased in value were NTPC (+ Rs 46.2 billion), L&T ( +Rs 44.5 billion), Bharti Airtel (+Rs 40.8 billion), Coal India (+ Rs 38.5 billion ), and Axis Bank (+Rs 35.9 billion).

Top 20 funds: Total equity value for the top 20 AMCs increased 3.1% MoM (+27.9% YoY) in Sep’23 vs. a 2.0% MoM rise (+14.9% YoY) for the Nifty-50.

Among the Top 10 funds, the highest MoM rise was seen in Nippon India Mutual Fund (+5.0%) followed by HDFC Mutual Fund (+4.7%), Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund (+4.1%), ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (+3.4%), and SBI Mutual Fund (+2.8%)

 Private Banks (18.9%) was the top sector holding for MFs in Sep 23, followed by Technology (9.5%), Autos (8.3%), Capital Goods (7.3%), and Healthcare (6.8%)

The top sectors where MF ownership vis-à-vis the BSE 200 are at least 1% higher: Healthcare (16 funds over-owned), Capital Goods (15 funds over-owned), Automobiles (12 funds over-owned), NBFCs (12 funds over-owned), and Chemicals (12 funds over-owned).
 

The top sectors where MF ownership vis-à-vis the BSE 200 are at least 1% lower: Consumer (19 funds under-owned), Oil & Gas (19 funds under-owned), Private Banks (15 funds under-owned), Utilities (14 funds under-owned), and Technology (12 funds under-owned).