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The small and mid-cap funds gained 3.5% on average in April, compared to 3.3% and 5.6% returned by the BSE Midcap Index and CNX Midcap Index, respectively.
Among sector funds, the financial sector funds saw the strongest recovery with returns of 8.1% in April. However, it was less than the BSE Bankex returns of 10.2% in the month of April. According to the report, defensive sector funds like healthcare and FMCG also fared well during the month.
The worst performers of the month were the IT sector stocks as they saw returns of -11.3%. This was, however, better than the BSE IT index which fell by about 17%.
“The Infosys stock fell by more than 22% during the month, causing the top-heavy BSE IT index to lose around 17% in April. Meanwhile technology sector funds, which are more diversified in nature, fared better,” said the report authored by Senior Research Analyst, Dhruva Raj Chatterji.
Among the other asset category funds, gold exchange-traded funds had a disappointing month having fallen by 8.5%, the worst ever monthly return figure in the last four-and-half years. The last time gold ETFs had fallen more was the month of October 2008, when they posted an average loss of more than 14%, the report added.
Bond yields benefited from the expectations of RBI rate-cut on account of falling inflation. This led to outperformance by government bonds. Long government bond funds were the best performers delivering an average return of 2.5%, followed by the Intermediate Government Bond category, which delivered a 2.3% return. Liquid funds underperformed, delivering a 0.7% return during the month.
