With domestic stock markets rising by over 4 per cent in May, equity mutual funds had a good month. Investors betting on PSU thematic funds, smallcap funds, and infrastructure funds saw highest gains in terms of category average. They are followed by banking, multicap, dividend yield and value oriented schemes. In the hybrid space, aggressive hybrid funds and multi asset allocation schemes did well. On the debt fund side, credit risk schemes, medium duration schemes and gilt with 10 years constant duration topped the charts.
Equity category
In terms of category average, equity funds had a good showing in May 2021.
Thematic-PSU topped the charts with 9.19 per cent return, followed by Small Cap 9.04 per cent, Sectoral-Infrastructure 8.91 per cent, Sectoral-Banking 8.81 per cent, Multi Cap 8.03 per cent, Thematic-Dividend Yield 7.16 per cent and Value Oriented 7.1 per cent.
In the next layer were funds from Thematic-Consumption 6.96 per cent, Large Cap 6.85 per cent, Thematic 6.48 per cent, ELSS 6.44 per cent, Flexi Cap 6.39 per cent, Sectoral-Technology 6.36 per cent, Large & MidCap 6.3 per cent etc.
Among equity fund names, the biggest winners list in May 2021 starts with Nippon India ETF PSU Bank BeES 17.99 per cent, followed by Kotak PSU Bank ETF 17.94 per cent, Quant Consumption 14.91 per cent, Tata Small Cap 12.73 per cent, IDFC Infrastructure 14.59 per cent, Nippon India Banking 12.38 per cent, ICICI Pru Banking & Fin Services 12.20 per cent and Quant Infrastructure 12.04 per cent.
Hybrid category
In the hybrid MF category, there are many sub-categories. In May 2021, Aggressive Hybrid funds did the best with average return of 5.21 per cent, followed by Multi asset allocation funds 4.4 per cent, Balanced hybrid fund 3.62 per cent, Dynamic asset allocation 3.34 per cent and Equity savings 2.68 per cent.
In terms of hybrid fund performers, Quant Multi Asset was the top one with 11.12 per cent, followed by ICICI Pru Thematic Advantage 8.79 per cent, HDFC Balanced Advantage 8.32 per cent, Quant Absolute 8.22 per cent, SBI Magnum Children’s Benefit – Investment Plan 7.6 per cent, SBI Retirement Hybrid Benefit Fund – Aggressive Hybrid 6.85 per cent and HDFC Hybrid Equity 6.74 per cent.
Gold and debt categories
Gold funds had a solid month. Usually, when equities as an asset class does well, gold is flat. However, thanks to rupee-dollar movement and price rise in gold, Gold funds performed in May 2021.
The category average for gold funds was 4.4 per cent in May, almost as good as the equity benchmark indices.
Since May 2021 was clearly good for stock markets, it is also important to see how fixed income/debt funds fared.
In terms of debt fund category performance, credit risk funds were on top with 0.73 per cent, medium duration 0.63 per cent, gilt with 10 year constant duration at 0.63 per cent, long duration 0.53 per cent and dynamic bond at 0.48 per cent.
In terms of individual debt funds, credit risk funds topped the charts in the initial part. BOI AXA Credit Risk was up 1.68 per cent for May, followed by IDBI Credit Risk 1.37 per cent, Franklin Income Opp 1.16 per cent, HDFC Credit Risk Debt 1.15 per cent, ICICI Pru Credit Risk 1.08 per cent. Then, the list has other top-performing debt funds such as IIFL Dynamic Bond 1.01 per cent, Edelweiss NIFTY PSU Bond Plus SDL Index Fund – 2026 0.95 per cent, Kotak Floating Rate 0.94 per cent, Nippon India ETF Nifty SDL – 2026 Maturity 0.91 per cent and Tata Medium Term 0.90 per cent.
