Mutual funds' October report: Financial stocks out, pharmaceuticals in

The top additions for MFs in October were Dr Reddy’s, D Mart, and Bharti Airtel. At the same time, Infosys, HUL, and HDFC Bank were major reductions in portfolios.

The sector remains underweight on banking and financial stocks, reducing positions in HDFC Bank (Rs 1,073 crore), HDFC Ltd (Rs 895 crore), and Axis Bank (Rs 647 crore), while minor additions were also seen in SBI (Rs 200 crore) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 133 crore). Banking and financial stocks have run up this month, with the NSE Bankex up 9.5 per cent.

Funds trimmed positions in FMCG stocks, too, such as Hindustan Uni­lever (Rs 1,314 crore), ITC (Rs 967 crore), Asian Paints (Rs 330 crore), and Nestlé (Rs 280 crore), along with IT firms Inf­o­sys (Rs 1,480 crore), TCS (Rs 429 crore), and Mindtree (Rs 230 crore). Ma­rginal additions were seen in Coforge (Rs 283 crore), HCL Tech (Rs 235 crore), and Oracle Financial (Rs 235 crore).

Fund houses added pharma counters such as Dr Reddy’s (Rs 750 crore), Sun Pharma (Rs 300 crore), Lupin (Rs 137 crore), and Apollo Hospital (Rs 100 crore), with some profit-booking seen in IPCA Labs (Rs 190 crore).