MFs happy but want more

MUMBAI: While for most investors the market touching the 13,000-point milestone was enough to make their day, mutual funds were cautious in welcoming the rise, saying the best was still to come as the rally was limited to large-cap stocks so far.

"It represents the robustness of the Indian growth story, strength of our economy and the prospects for a higher rate of growth," AMFI chairman AP Kurien said after the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share benchmark index Sensex scaled the 13,000 level for the first time in its history.

It is a welcome development for the mutual funds, which are active participants in the markets and benefit from the bullish trends on bourses, he added.

However, some market participants were sceptical, saying it was still too early to celebrate in the MF space as the rally has been a narrow one and mainly limited to blue chips.

Mutual Fund tracking firm ValueResearch's CEO Dhirendra Kumar said from New Delhi that MFs might not be the major beneficiaries at the moment as the rally is confined to large-cap stocks.

The rally should be reasonably well-spread across all the sectors and segments for the MFs to benefit, he added.

Kumar, however, said that it was a good thing that market has made a quick rebound since the sharp downslide in May to scale this new peak.

Though the sharp upsurge is mainly due to the Sensex and large-cap stocks, other mid-cap and small-cap shares are gradually following but still have not been able to reach the desired levels, Kumar added.