OCTOBER 12, 2003
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Kashmir On The Map
After a succession of false starts, this might actually be something worth taking note of. The World Travel and Tourism Council has joined hands with the Jammu & Kashmir government to promote the state as an international tourist destination for just about anybody who appreciates natural beauty. The plan.


Cancun Round-Up
The drumbeats on the way to Mexico were low-key, but audible enough. Now that the World Trade Organisation is back in pow-wow mode and India has attained some clarity on what the country's trade agenda is, it's time to do a quick round-up of the Cancun meet.

More Net Specials
Business Today,  September 28, 2003
 
 
Surf's Up
August has been a terrific month for mutual funds, as the scorecard shows. The roar is unmistakable.
OTHER RELATED STORIES

August was the month of the BSE. The sensex outperformed indices across the globe. The Dow was up 1.97 per cent, the FTSE 0.1 per cent and the Hang Seng 7.64 per cent. And the Sensex? Up a magnificent 11.92 per cent.

The month's rally, prodded by the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) forecast of 6.5 per cent gross domestic product growth for India, was driven largely by public sector and pharma stocks. Steel and technology did well too. The return of the initial public offer (IPO) season was the other market-rousing story, with UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank taking Maruti's cue. All in all, a month of exhilarating highs.

Schemes And Boards

Among diversified funds, August's performance chart is topped by HDFC Top 200-growth, which left its portfolio virtually unchanged with a heavy bet on oil stocks, notably ONGC and HPCL. Taurus Starshare is a surprise second. DSP ml Opportunities Fund, ranked fourth, took the right call on technology, oil and bank scrips.

Among sector-specific funds, the average return was 11.77 per cent. UTI Growth Sector Fund-Petro was August's top performer, thanks to its oil sector exposure, followed by Tata Life Sciences, with its 60 per cent exposure to pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Another oil-focused fund, JM Basic, ranks third. By August-end, however, the oil supremacy was being challenged by tech and pharma stocks.

The tax-saving category's average return was 13.82 per cent. Index funds have done rather well. While equity funds hogged all the attention in August, the performance of income funds is also worth noting. The big boost came from the RBI's REPO rate cut announcement on August 23, 2003. I-Bex, the benchmark for the gilt market, rose 2.64 per cent over August. The NAVs of income funds have also risen in sync.

Income fund managers have another reason for cheer. The RBI announcement spurred some banks to lower deposit rates by 25 basis points, which has made income funds even more attractive for risk-averse investors.

Gilt funds with higher average maturity periods performed the best. Franklin India Gilt Investment plan, with an average maturity of 12 years, ended August at the top-with returns of 2.90 per cent, followed by Templeton GSF, Tata GSF, Tata Gilt HIF and JM G-sec regular plan. Most of these funds saw appreciation in the range of 1.5-2.5 per cent. For risk-averse funds, that's darned good.

Wave Check

August may well have been an amazing month for the BSE, but there's peril in extrapolating the market's performance month after month, even if there's little evidence to negate the month's causes for bullishness. September, most likely, will end as a month of stock-taking. Besides, signs that it will not be happy surfing all the way are already apparent. The privatisation of oil PSUs has already suffered something of a hard knock, with the Supreme Court insisting on parliamentary approval before the sell-offs can go ahead.

 

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