Equity fund NAVs up in Dec on market rally_2562

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Adding to the momentum, offshore foreign funds bought $91.1 million worth of Indian equities.
Prospects for coming months hinged on investor hopes for the 2003-04 budget to be presented in late February. "Markets in January and February will depend upon the buildup of budget expectations,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," said K B Capital Markets director Kaushik Poddar.
Banking shares were re-rated after a new federal law armed lenders with more teeth to recover bad loans boosted the sector.
Equity fund net asset values rose for a second straight month in December on the back of a broadbased market rally triggered by healthy second-quarter results, analysts said on Thursday.
"Investors were purchasing a lot of these stocks on the basis of some potential event expected to boost profitability or their stock price,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," said Poddar.
Balanced funds, which have large investments in debt assets and a sprinkling of equities, gained 4.53 per cent on average compared with a 3.9 per cent rise on the Value Research index.
Two schemes investing in the petrochemicals sector that includes privatisation candidates Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd jumped 6.14 percent on average outperforming the benchmark 30-share index.
Average NAVs of 173 funds investing in sectors ranging from technology to petrochemicals rose between 0.01 per cent and 6.14 per cent in December, data collected by fund tracking firm Value Research showed. That compared with a 4.6 per cent jump on the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange index.
The three drug funds with assets of Rs 1.2 billion ($24.8 million) rose on average by 5.13 per cent but were unable to surpass a 6.78 per cent gain on the sector index.
"The markets' rise has been pretty broadbased and almost all sectors have participated,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," IL&FS Ltd group investment strategist Vibhav Kapoor said. "The markets were undervalued and results for the July-September quarter were good,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," he added.
Twelve software funds with assets of Rs 12.7 billion rose on average by 4.01 per cent compared with a one per cent rise in the sector index. Funds investing in fast-moving consumer goods firms making items like soap saw their NAVs edged up 0.01 per cent compared with a 3.41 per cent sector index jump.
Domestic stocks touched a seven-month high in December as investors latched onto leading companies such as software exporter Infosys Technologies Ltd and petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries Ltd.
State-run companies on India's privatisation list firmed after the government said it would offload large stakes in two-cash rich oil refiners even though it set no timeframe.
January  16, 2003 16:47 IST
Equity fund NAVs up in Dec on market rally
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Equity fund NAVs up in Dec on market rally
Sixty-nine diversified funds with assets of Rs 59 billion jumped 4.86 per cent on average, outpacing a 4.22 per cent gain on the 500-stock S&P CNX 500.
Schemes having funds to invest of over Rs 7.9 billion and tracking specific indices matched on average the 4.18 per cent gain on the 50-issue National Stock Exchange index that is used as a benchmark for the category.