Mutual Funds continue selling RIL, banking shares; SBI, HDFC, ICICI MFs buy these stocks instead

In the month of October, the majority of the mutual fund houses continued to be overweight on sectors such as capital goods, telecom, and consumer while being underweight in banking and finance along with oil & gas. Financials and RIL were once again some of the most sold stocks by leading fund houses. Although, equity schemes did see an increase in outflows on-month basis but SIPs stabilized at Rs 7,800 crore. The assets under management (AUM) for leading MF houses have also improved from the previous month. Here’s what the leading mutual fund house bought in October.

SBI Mutual Fund

The largest mutual fund house of the country by AUM, was seen picking stocks from diverse sectors. The biggest buy for SBI MF was Reliance Industries RE, increasing holding by buying stocks worth Rs 240 crore. This was followed by a purchase of Rs 176 crore worth Lupin stock in the previous month. Radhakishan Damani’s Avenue Supermarts was the third largest buying activity undertaken by SBI mutual funds. SRF and Happiest Minds were the other two stocks bought. HDFC twins, RIL, Infosys, and L&T were some of the most sold stocks by the fund house.

HDFC Mutual Fund

Telecom was the top most priority for HDFC mutual fund in the previous month with Rs 261 crore worth Bharti Airtel stocks being added to the portfolio. Hindustan Unilever Limited was the next big buy. IT major TCS was also on the radar with Rs 149 crore being spent to acquire stocks of the Tata Group firm. Banking on the automobile sector, HDFC MF bought Maruti Suzuki shares worth Rs 116 crore. The last of the top 5 stocks that HDFC MF bought was a group firm, HDFC Life Insurance. Two Tata firms, Tata Steel and Tata Motors were among stocks that the fund house sold. These were joined by HDFC Bank and SBI Cards and Payment services. Shares of RIL were also sold.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund

While SBI and HDFC Mutual Fund sold Reliance Industries, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund was seen picking up shares of Mukesh Amabni’s behemoth. Avenue Supermarts was the top addition to ICICI’s portfolio. Rs 147 crore worth of stocks of TCS were bought in the previous month while construction major Larsen & Toubro was the other pick. Risk averse of the banking and finance space, ICICI Mutual Fund sold HDFC, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank during the previous month.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund

Pharma was on Aditya Birla Sun Life MF’s shopping cart with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories being the largest addition along with Lupin. Bajaj Finance shares were also bought during the previous month. Hopeful of spending on the construction to increase, the fund house bought stocks of Ambuja Cement. The newly listed CAMS was the last of the top 5 additions for Aditya Birla Sun Life MF. Among the stocks sold were financials such as HDFC, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries. FMCG firms such as HUL and ITC were also sold by the fund house.