Mutual funds deploy dry powder as corporate tax cut boosts sentiment

The spectacular run-up in Indian equities on Friday would have caught many fund managers off guard, especially those sitting on a sizeable amount of cash.

Five of the top 10 mutual funds by equity value are holding cash in the range of 8-11 per cent, a reasonably high number. Some of this dry powder appears to have been deployed on Friday going by the quantum of shares purchased by domestic institutional investors (DIIs). Provisional data on the BSE shows that these investors shopped for shares worth Rs 3,001 crore, even as FPIs stayed on the sidelines with net purchases of