MF Large cap, mid-cap and small cap stock trends in Dec-21

17 Jan 2022 , 07:38 AM

Equity fund inflows in the month of December 2021 more than doubled sequentially to Rs25,077cr. What is more important is that the SIP flows in the month of Dec-21 stood at a record level of Rs11,305cr. But that is just the macro picture. In the month of December, mutual funds were net buyers in equities, but there is a much bigger story.

There was a story of churn that was visible as mutual funds tried to cut down on specific exposures and increase exposure in the emerging winners in the equity markets. Obviously, we cannot take a very macro view, hence we take a more micro view of how mutual funds bought sold equities in the month of December 2021.

We look at 3 categories of mutual fund buying and selling of stocks. We first look at what were the large cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in the month of December. Then we look at similar data stock-wise for mid-caps and small caps too. For the definition of large cap, mid-caps and small caps, we have relied  on the AMFI classification based on capitalization as approved by SEBI. Here is how the buying and selling panned out in Dec-21.

Large cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in Dec-21

As per the AMFI definition of large caps, the entire universe of stocks on the BSE are ranked descending on market capitalization and the top 100 stocks are classified as large caps. This list is updated by AMFI every 6 months. As of Dec-21, large cap stocks are companies with an approximate market capitalisation of Rs47,000cr and higher. Remember, this is a dynamic definition and can change with the level of the market indices.

What were the large cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in Dec-21? Among major additions, mutual funds bought 2.09cr shares of Wipro, 1.99cr shares of Tata Power, 65 lakh shares of Indus Towers, 22 lakh shares of Godrej Consumer Products and 16 lakh shares of IRCTC, the company that provides ticketing, catering and tourism services to the Indian Railways. Among other additions, mutual funds also bought One97 Communications (Paytm), Siemens, Godrej Properties and L&T Infotech.

What were the large cap stocks that mutual funds sold in Dec-21? Mutual funds sold 1.69 crore shares of Indian Oil Corporation, 1.22 crore shares of BPCL, 31 lakh shares of JSW Steel and 17 lakh shares of PB Fintech (Policybazaar and Paisabazaar). Among other large cap stocks that mutual funds net sold in Dec-21 were Nykaa, Macrotech Developers, Hindustan Zinc and Eicher Motors.

Mid-cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in Dec-21

As per the AMFI definition, mid-cap stocks are companies which rank between 101 and 250 on the market cap scale. As per the latest Dec-21 definition, these are with an approximate market capitalisation between Rs16,000cr and Rs47,000cr. Remember, this is a dynamic definition and can change with the level of the market indices.

What were the mid-cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in Dec-21? Among major additions, mutual funds bought 2.53cr shares of Indian Hotels, 1.82cr shares of NMDC, 1.79 crore shares of REC Ltd, 65 lakh shares of IPCA Laboratories and 62 lakh shares of L&T Finance Holdings. Among other additions, mutual funds also bought Bandhan Bank, Whirlpool of India, Tata Communications, Indiamart Intermesh and CRISIL.

What were the mid-cap stocks that mutual funds sold in Dec-21? Mutual funds sold 18.73 crore shares of Vodafone Idea for obvious reasons, 1.77 crore shares of IRFC, 2.70 crore shares of Yes Bank, 92 lakh shares of India Energy Exchange (IEX) and 81 lakh shares of Bank of India. Among other mid-cap stocks that mutual funds net sold in Dec-21 were Dixon Technologies, Minda Industries, Tata Chemicals and ICICI Securities.

Small cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in Dec-21

As per the AMFI definition, small cap stocks are companies which rank below 250 on the market cap scale. As per the latest Dec-21 definition, these are companies with an approximate market capitalisation of less than Rs16,000cr. Remember, this is a dynamic definition and can change with the level of the market indices.

What were the small cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in Dec-21? Among major additions, mutual funds bought 1.73cr shares of Himachal Futuristic (HFCL), 53 lakh shares of Kirloskar Oil Engines, 46 lakh shares of Graphite India, 29 lakh shares of IRB Infra and 15 lakh shares of IIFL Wealth Management. Among other additions, mutual funds also bought Data Patterns, Go Fashions, Sapphire Foods, Mahanagar Gas and Safari Industries in the month of December 2021.

What were the small cap stocks that mutual funds sold in Dec-21? Mutual funds sold 3.97 crore shares of RBL Bank after the top management change, 30 lakh shares of Latent View Analytics, 51 lakh shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance, 32 lakh shares of Navneet Education and 21 lakh shares of Welspun India. Among other small cap stocks that mutual funds net sold in Dec-21 were Mayur Uniquoters, Himatsingka Seide, Care Ratings, BSE Ltd and PNB Housing Finance.

Even as flows into equity funds remained robust, the mutual funds as a whole used the volatility in the market to restructure their portfolios with a focus on sector rotation.