Before I start off on any analysis in this segment, even at the cost of a repetitive bore I will put forth this disclaimer. All fund schemes are taken as direct. However, even if you are a direct investor, hire a financial advisor that you trust who can guide with investments. Pay for your advice.

Fund category definition: Funds with minimum 65{76b947d7ef5b3424fa3b69da76ad2c33c34408872c6cc7893e56cc055d3cd886} portfolio allocation to Small Cap (251 and beyond by market cap size) stocks

Benchmark: Nifty Small Cap 250 TRI with return of 5.40{76b947d7ef5b3424fa3b69da76ad2c33c34408872c6cc7893e56cc055d3cd886} in December 2021

All data as on: 31st December, 2021

Summary

The tug-of-war between Axis and L&T continues with L&T a little ahead of Axis for this month.

In December, Nippon and L&T were the only two funds to have outperformed the benchmark although last month most of them had exceeded the said benchmark. So, maybe this is par for the course.

SBI and DSP increased stocks by four each while Franklin increased it’s number by 5.

ICICI sees a slight increase of 0.06{76b947d7ef5b3424fa3b69da76ad2c33c34408872c6cc7893e56cc055d3cd886} in it’s expense ratio.

Market Cap Allocation

With both Bank of Baroda and Aurobindo Pharma moving from Large Cap to Mid Cap, HDFC no longer has any Large Cap allocation. The opposite story has taken place for Axis, with SRF and Mindtree recategorised as Large Cap, the fund now has a 2.22{76b947d7ef5b3424fa3b69da76ad2c33c34408872c6cc7893e56cc055d3cd886} allocation to Large Cap.

In the case of ICICI, the sole Large Cap representation was through a 0.69{76b947d7ef5b3424fa3b69da76ad2c33c34408872c6cc7893e56cc055d3cd886} allocation to FSN Ecommerce which has been completely exited.

Top 5 sectors

It’s been quite quiet on this front this month. In Franklin, Software has edged out Industrial Products in the Top 5 Sectors.

In ICICI Finance has replaced Industrial Products in the Top 5 Sectors.

One of the biggest differences is that Aditya Birla has really beefed up Software to make it even stronger as the biggest sector. While they have exited Happiest Minds, they have added a battalion of five new Software stocks to the portfolio.

Top 10 stocks

The much needed method in this madness to figure some trends in the top 10 stocks is still a work in progress. Till then, if you can make anything out of this patchwork quilt, feel free to mention it in the comments below.