The buying came amid weakness in the broader market, with midcap and smallcap indices declining 3.4 per cent and 4.1 per cent, respectively, in October — indicating that fund managers continued to “accumulate” select stocks despite price declines in several market segments. Other prominent purchases were Max Healthcare, Mahindra & Mahindra, BSE, Samvardhana Motherson International, and Divi’s Laboratories.
On the sell side, private banks and information technology firms saw the pressure with ICICI Bank topping the list with net sales of ₹3,278 crore. Kotak Mahindra Bank followed with ₹1,961 crore, Infosys with ₹1,888 crore, Life Insurance Corporation with ₹1,840 crore and HCLTech with ₹1,418 crore. Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Indian Hotels, Coforge and Cholamandalam Investment & Finance were among the other stocks which witnessed net selling.
The portfolio reshuffling came as equity MF inflows moderated 14 per cent month-on-month to ₹32,994 crore in October, following profit booking and cooling investments in midcap and smallcap schemes. Smallcap and midcap funds together attracted ₹11,301 crore, down 33 per cent from September’s record inflows. Despite the moderation, equity schemes continued to record net inflows for the 68th consecutive month, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India.