ITC, IndiGo, Swiggy, Paytm top MF buys in May; BSE, Coforge shares on sell list

ITC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, Eternal Ltd (Zomato), Bharti Airtel Ltd and InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (IndiGo) were among stocks that mutual fund (MF) managers bought with both hands in May. Max Financial, FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), BSE, and Coforge were some of the stocks on MF sell radar, data compiled by Nuvama Institutional Equities showed. 

To recall, the month saw several block deals in ITC, Bharti Airtel, and InterGlobe Aviation, with sizeable fund participation. Among largecaps, prominent screen buys included Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto.  "Highest selling was seen in TCS, Bharat Electronics, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank. New entry included Adani Green Energy," Nuvama said.

ITC saw MFs buying 18.8 crore shares worth Rs 7,800 crore in May. MFs owned 165.90 crore shares in May against 147.10 crore in April. HDFC Bank Ltd saw Rs 5,900 crore in MF buying for the month as institutional class bought 3 crore bank shares for the month, taking their ownership to 161.30 crore shares from 158.30 crore shares month-on-month (MoM).

In the case of Eternal, MFs bought Rs 5,400 crore worth 22.50 crore shares. MFs owned 206.7 crore Eternal shares in May against 184.2 crore shares in April.

MFs bought 90 lakh IndiGo shares worth Rs 4,900 crore. Lenders State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank saw Rs 3,300 crore and 2,600 crore worth MF buying for the month. Swiggy (Rs 2,400 crore), NTPC (Rs 1,400 crore), PNB Housing (Rs 1,400 crore), Asian Paints (Rs 1,200 crore), Paytm (Rs 1,200 crore) and Axis Bank (Rs 1,200 crore) were among companies seeing MF buying in May.

"In May, mutual funds bought Rs 56,300 crore and alongside FIIs bought Rs 9,600 crore in Indian secondary market. Total cash & equivalents declined from Rs 2,03,500 crore (6.58 per cent) in April to Rs 1,96,100 crore (6.05 per cent) in May. Reflects net deployment of Rs 7,400 crore into equity markets (Primary + Secondary) during May," Nuvama said.

On the sell side, MFs sold Rs 1,200 crore worth 80 lakh Max Financial shares. They also sold Rs 1,100 crore worth Nykaa shares and Rs 800 crore worth BSE shares. Indian Hotels, Coforge, Tech Mahindra, Coal India and MRF were some other stocks that fund managers sold in the month gone by.