No Crash In Near Future

Ashwani Kumar has over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry and has worked with Zurich Asset Management Company, which was later bought over by HDFC Mutual Fund. In Reliance AMC he has been managing Reliance Vision, one of the best equity funds, since January 2004. He has also been in charge of Reliance Taxsaver since its launch in August 2005. Kumar holds a B.Sc degree and is an MBA in finance.

Do you see a market crash in the near future?
Barring unforseen circumstances in the global markets, one does not see any reason for a crash in the market in the near future.

What is the strategic and tactical orientation of your fund?
Large cap with growth bias.

Which are your top sector preferences?
Domestic capital spending related themes
Global Outsourcing
These are the preferred themes for this fund. However, the sectoral view is a guiding principal and the fund has a strong focus on absolute stock returns.

(Source: Value Research)

New Funds - LIC Top 100 Fund

LIC Mutual Fund has come out with a three-year close ended equity fund- LIC Top 100 Fund. The scheme aims to provide long term capital appreciation from a portfolio of equity and equity related instruments primarily drawn from the companies which are a part of CNX 100 Index. However, the weightage contributed towards each of the company in the portfolio may not be same as the company's weightage to the CNX 100 Index.

This fund would automatically be converted into an open ended fund after the expiry of three years. Although there is no entry or exit load during the new fund offer period, the fund may charge initial issue expenses upto a maximum of 6 per cent of the amount mobilised to the scheme, which will be amortised over the three-year tenure of the fund.

Scheme Details
Issue Opens: November 15, 2007
Issue Closes: December 14, 2007
Type: Close-end, equity fund
Benchmark Index: CNX 100 Index
Minimum Investment: Rs 5,000
Load: Nil
Cost: Initial issue expenses, not exceeding 6 per cent of the corpus collected, would be amortized on a daily basis over the three-year close-ended tenure of the scheme

About the Fund Manager
Ms. B. Mahapatra is the designated fund manager for the scheme. She has been with LIC of India for 11 years but in different roles. Ms. Mahapatra has been managing four schemes in LIC Mutual since January 2004- LICMF MIP (Hybrid: Monthly Income), LICMF Children's Fund (Hybrid: Debt Oriented), LICMF Balance Fund (Hybrid: Equity Oriented) and LICMF India Vision (Equity: Diversified).

Fund From To Return Rank/Count LICMF MIP 01/01/2004 Till date 11.58 3/19 LICMF Children's 01/01/2004 Till date 13.38 13/19 LICMF Balance 01/01/2005 Till date 34.16 13/27 LICMF India Vision 23/11/2006 Till date 47.33 2/14 Return as on November 27, 2007

Performance History: LIC AMC
LIC Mutual Fund was incorporated in the year 1989. Currently it has assets worth Rs 13,937 crore under management. The fund house's 9 equity fund offerings contribute over Rs 932 crore to its total assets under management. However, their performance record is not too encouraging. Out of its six rated equity funds, three are rated 1-star, one is rated 2-star, while LICMF Sensex Advantage and LICMF Index Sensex have a 3-star rating.

1 Year 3 Year 5 Year Fund Ret % Rank Ret % Rank Ret % Rank Birla Top 100 34.47 132/162 - - - - DSPML Top 100 Equity 54.30 39/162 52.59 27/93 - - Franklin India Bluechip 39.64 109/162 45.95 55/93 53.17 26/58 HDFC Top 200 42.72 90/162 50.74 34/93 58.00 15/58 Return as on November 27, 2007

Opinion
The fund house lacks a good performance record for its actively managed equity funds. Hence, investors should avoid investing in this latest equity fund of LIC Mutual Fund.

(Source: Value Research)

HDFC Funds out of steam?

The HDFC Equity Fund and the HDFC Long Term Advantage Fund seem to have run out of steam. Is it advisable to continue investing in them or is it time to exit from these two funds?
- Anonymous

The HDFC Equity Fund and HDFC Long Term Advantage Fund have been two of the best performing funds in their respective categories, but are going through a rough patch of late. However, such short term fluctuations should not alter your investment strategy and force you to sell your quality investments.

As on November 8th 2007, HDFC Equity has generated a return of 38.76 per cent on a year to date basis, almost matching its category average. One cannot classify this as a poor performance, but it is evident that when compared to peers, the fund has not done well. The fund however continues to have a 5-star rating, and is one of the best core picks.

HDFC Long Term Advantage has been a laggard in the ELSS category in the recent past. In the past one year (as on November 8, 2007) the fund has returned a disappointing 30 per cent whereas the category average has been 45.42 per cent. If you have plans of selling your investments exactly after three years, then you could perhaps think of routing your future tax saving investments in better performing ELSS funds which have outperformed the category in the recent past.

(Source: Value Research)

10% Dividend in Tata Balanced Fund

Tata Mutual Fund has announced a dividend of 10% (i.e. Rs 1.00 per unit on the face value of Rs. 10) under the dividend option of Tata Balanced Fund

The record date for the same has been fixed as December 7, 2007.

10% Dividend in Tata Equity Management Fund

Tata Mutual Fund has announced a dividend of 10% (i.e. Rs 1.00 per unit on the face value of Rs. 10) under the dividend option of Tata Equity Management Fund.

The record date for the same has been fixed as December 4, 2007.