Majority of equity schemes pare cash positions even as markets soar

According to experts, schemes that were sitting on a lot of cash deployed it after the market crash in March and April

Equity schemes have not gone heavy on building a cash buffer despite the steep run-up in equities over the last couple of months (which propelled the benchmarks to record highs), and rich valuations. 

According to data from Value Research, two-thirds of 265 equity schemes considered for analysis were found to have decreased their cash positions over the past one year. Of these, 29 have decreased their cash position by more than 5 percentage points, while 11 have done so by over 10 percentage points.

As of December-end, 31 schemes had cash levels in excess of 5 per cent, compared to 65 schemes