67% equity MFs outperform respective benchmarks in August, finds PL Wealth Management

As much as 67% of equity funds have outperformed their respective benchmarks in August, according to a study conducted by PL Wealth Management, PL Capital—Prabhudas Lilladher’s wealth management arm. Its latest research on mutual fund performance analysis cited that the assets under management (AUM) of equity mutual funds surged by 2.04% sequentially to Rs 25.64 lakh crore in August 2024 from Rs 25.13 lakh crore in July 2024. The figure excludes the AUM of sectoral and thematic funds.

“The study, which is based on 283 open-ended equity diversified funds, cited that 67% of these funds have outperformed their respective benchmarks over the past month. The cumulative total of funds that outperformed stood at 190 during the month ended August 2024,” said PL Wealth Management.

The study further highlighted that large- and mid-cap funds were the best-performing category, where 79% schemes outperformed the benchmark. It was followed by schemes of focussed funds which outperformed their respective benchmarks by 75%. During this period, multi-cap, mid-cap and flexi-cap funds were the three categories to have outperformed their respective benchmark by 69% each. Flexi-cap funds invest across large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap stocks per Sebi guidelines. They maintain an exposure of 65%-100% to equity.

On the other hand, small-cap funds and large-cap funds were the least performing fund category with 54% and 55% of funds outperforming the benchmark, the study showed.

For the month ended August 2024, monthly returns of Nifty 50 TRI, Nifty Midcap 150 TRI, and Nifty Small Cap 250 TRI were 1.74%, 0.90% and 1.17%, respectively.

PL Wealth Management advised investors to stick to their SIP investments and keep a long-term focus. “SIPs over the past 3 years have yielded a return above 15% per annum on an average for the top quartile equity funds,” the asset management firm said.