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Fund managers break all records, buy equities worth Rs 50,000 cr in FY16
India's equity mutual fund managers have broken all previous records when it comes to pumping in money in stocks. In the first half of the current financial year, put together, they made a net investment of nearly Rs 50,000 crore - much higher than what they did in the whole previous financial year.
Further, it has also surpassed the overall net investment they made during the previous bull run between FY04 and FY08.
In FY15, total net investments stood at Rs 40,722 crore. Prior to that, fund managers had been net sellers of equities for five years in a row and sold shares worth Rs 75,000 crore due to intense redemption pressure from investors. On the other hand, between FY04 and FY08, they had bought shares worth Rs 41,426 crore as markets rose to historical 21,000 mark.
However, over the last one-and-a-half years, situation has dramatically changed. On the back of robust inflows from Indian retail investors, fund managers are in top gear buying equities. What is interesting is the fact that despite markets are trading about 15 per cent below their recent peaks, there is no dearth of fresh money flowing. This is only strengthening fund managers' hand to buy shares at every fall.
August core sector growth picks up to 2.6%
Growth in eight core sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement, and electricity — increased to 2.6 per cent in August after a slower 1.1 per cent in July. However, the 2.2 per cent cumulative growth in April to August of FY16 still remains less than the corresponding figure previous year, which was 5.6 per cent, according to data released by the Union ministry of commerce and industry on Wednesday.
In March and April this year, the eight sectors, which have a weightage of nearly 38 per cent on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had witnessed contractions of 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively. However, in May and June, the core sector expanded 4.4 per cent and three per cent, respectively. Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at CARE Ratings, said though month-on-month figures show growth in all sectors other than steel, the cumulative figures for the April-August period, showing lukewarm growth in most sectors, should be kept in mind.
All sectors posted growth other than steel, which continued to contract 5.9 per cent. Last month, it had started falling 2.6 per cent. Its cumulative index during April-August in 2015-16 showed no growth over the corresponding period of the previous year when it grew 6.6 per cent. Generally indicative of the infrastructure growth in the country, steel figures hint at stagnant growth in the sector.
Manufacturing PMI falls to 7-month low in Sept
The Nikkei manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to a seven month low in September reaffirming concerns about the durability of the nascent economy recovery. The PMI fell to 51.2 in September, down from 52.3 in August. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion in manufacturing activity.
New order and output increased at a slower pace, with the latest data pointing to the weakest rise in production since May last year. The slowdown the report notes was across all three broad areas of the manufacturing sector. New business from abroad expanded at the slowest pace in the current 24-month sequence of growth, which suggests that export growth is likely to come under pressure.