10 equity schemes' Oct assets up 3%

The assets under management of the top 10 equity schemes rose 3 per cent in October to 290.43 bn rupees, according to data collected by CRISIL MarketWire.

Equity funds are continuing to garner interest among investors even when key indices are scaling new peaks. Investors feel that the domestic stock markets look attractive because of India's strong domestic growth.

Along with inflows in select schemes, the rise in equity markets has also resulted in rise in assets. In October, the Sensex and Nifty rose 4.07 per cent and 4.34 per cent to 12961.9 and 3744.1, respectively.

There was significant shuffling of positions in the top 10 funds.

The top four positions remained unchanged held by Reliance Equity Fund, HDFC Equity Fund, Franklin India Flexi Cap Fund and Morgan Stanley Growth Fund, respectively. Reliance Equity Fund held on to the top position despite witnessing a 4 per cent asset fall.

The highest asset rise among the ten schemes was recorded by Reliance Vision Fund. On the back of 16 per cent asset rise, the scheme jumped up two notches higher to the eighth position in October.

Reliance Growth Fund, whose assets rose 8 per cent in October, went up a position last month to the sixth spot. The attractive valuations of mid-cap stocks are leading to some interest in the mid-cap segment.

Also, the superior performance of Reliance Growth and Reliance Vision Fund led to inflows. The two schemes from Reliance Mutual were recently ranked top among global diversified equity schemes over a five-year period by Lipper.

Franklin India Bluechip Fund rose one position while SBI Blue Chip Fund fell two spots in October to secure the fifth and seventh spots, respectively.

UTI Mastershare Unit Scheme was the new entrant at the tenth position. The open-ended equity scheme's assets rose 6 per cent in October to Rs 19.59 billion from Rs 18.52 billion in September.

Templeton India Equity Income Fund, which held the ninth position among the top 10 equity schemes in September did not feature on the list last month with its October assets falling 1 per cent to Rs 19.53 billion.