Saturday, May 23, 2009

Fund houses line up new offers on whiff of positive sentiment

Mutual fund houses are hoping to push through their new fund offers as they sense investor sentiment turning positive after the recent rally in stocks.
Almost two dozen fund offer documents have been filed with SEBI in the past two months, since the start of the current financial year. In addition, there are several schemes that have received SEBI approval but have been kept on hold pending an opportune time for launch, said fund managers.
These funds will see reasonably improved investor interest as sentiment has reasonably improved in the past few days, said Mr N. Sethuram Iyer, Chief Investment Officer, Shinsei Mutual Fund.
Already, money is flowing into equity schemes, said a fund manager.
The past few new fund offers have seen collections as low as Rs 10 crore; funds can hope to get better collections now due to the revival in investor interest, said Mr Iyer.
The benchmark Sensex has gained 14 per cent since last Friday.
Some fund managers are wary and feel they cannot judge if the rally of the past few days will attract investor money, though it has definitely caught investor attention.
“I wouldn’t expect these many launches three months down the line,” said one of them.
It is the existing products that will be preferred to the new ones, as they are sitting on built-up portfolios, said another fund manager.

The schemes lined up for SEBI approval are of varied themes – equity, debt, index, gold, fund of (international) funds, and arbitrage schemes.
In the equity category are Fidelity Forward India, IDFC Dynamic Equity fund, Reliance Target Appreciation Fund, Shinsei Industry Leaders Fund, Canara Robeco Force Fund and Reliance Micro Cap Fund. In the debt category are Religare Credit Opportunities Fund, Shinsei Liquid Fund, UTI Capital Plus Fund, Mirae Short Term Bond Fund, Kotak FMP, Templeton’s Fixed Horizon Fund, Sahara Daily Fund and Baroda Pioneer PSU Bond Fund.
Even as fund managers predict that upcoming fund launches will get more favourable attention, there are investors who feel that have already missed the bus.
At the 8000 levels (of the Sensex) nobody invested, and now with equity markets at higher levels, investors are afraid these levels may not sustain, said Iyer.
The right approach for investors should be a long-term one, he said. “Although equity is a risky investment, one can reap rewards over a longer term.”

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/05/23/stories/2009052351351000.htm

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