Top 30 stocks bought, sold by MFs in April; do you own any?

After a devastating March, the equity market regained strength in April. The BSE Sensex and Nifty gained more than 14 percent during the previous month and shot up 31 percent from March lows.

The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks as the BSE Midcap index was up 13.66 percent and BSE Smallcap index gained 15.5 percent in April.

But there was some outflow by mutual funds during the previous month after a strong inflow in March. This was partially due to the Franklin Templeton crisis where the fund house shut closed 6 debt funds.

Inflows into equity funds declined sharply to Rs 6,100 crore in April from Rs 11,723 crore in March. Overall, the mutual funds have net sold Rs 7,153.91 crore worth of shares in April, which was higher than FIIs outflow of Rs 5,208.50 crore.

SIP inflows also moderated but remained strong at Rs 8,376 crore in April from a record high in March at Rs 8,641.

"Number of folio has gone up in April. SIP flow remained strong, though it was down compared to March as there is bit of selling by HNIs. Lower figure compared to March must have due to redemption by SME or MSME owners who are facing normal cash management issue, so they must be selling MFs to get easily available money to survive in the COVID-19 crisis," Shailendra Kumar, CIO at Narnolia Financial Services told Moneycontrol.

He said faith wise, retail investors flow remaining strong was a positive sign. "Normally after a crash like March, investors get scared in the following month, but retail investors picked up despite volatility, which is good saving culture for the economy and financial markets."

Among stocks, largecaps such as Wipro, HDFC AMC, Eicher Motors, UPL and Lupin witnessed highest buying by MFs during April, whereas stocks which saw selling by AMCs at a consolidated level were Bandhan Bank, Zee Entertainment, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank and Godrej Consumer Products, said ICICI Direct.

Eicher Motors remained on MFs' radar for the second consecutive month. The stock retrieved about 13 percent so far since April after losing more than 45 percent in the previous four months.

In the midcap space, ICICI Direct said the highest buying by MFs was seen in Endurance Technologies, Page Industries, CRISIL, Manappuram Finance and Jindal Steel & Power during April, whereas RBL Bank, L&T Finance Holdings, Shriram Transport Finance, NIIT Technologies and Nippon Life AMC were sold by AMCs at a consolidated level.

Among smallcaps, stocks like Metropolis Healthcare, CCL Products, Godfrey Philips, Welspun Corp and Cyient witnessed highest buying during April, but GMDC, JB Chemicals, Chennai Petroleum, Karnataka Bank and Equitas Holdings saw selling by AMCs, the brokerage added.

Overall the retail participation is expected to increase going ahead, but the market may remain rangebound till the new infections recede, experts feel.

"New investors who have entered the markets through the SIP route, are more patient and sticky. SIP flows have remained robust, even in the face of huge uncertainties. We see the spike in demat accounts more as a function of a need to participate in various products like IPOs and portfolios, rather than a surge in demand for direct equities," Vinay Khattar, Head of Research at Edelweiss Wealth Management told Moneycontrol.

He said given the wide array of possibilities for how economic growth and earnings will pan out in the next year, adding that the volatility is here to stay for a while.

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