Portfolio Check: Equity mutual funds shed up to 4% in August. Are any of these part of your portfolio?

Equity mutual funds delivered negative returns of up to 4% in August, according to an ETMutualFunds analysis. Out of 293 funds available for investment during the period, around 229 funds delivered negative returns, while 59 gave positive returns. The remaining five funds failed to generate returns, three of which were launched in mid-August.Samco Flexi Cap Fund lost the most, at around 3.80% in August, followed by Motilal Oswal ELSS Tax Saver Fund, which delivered a negative return of 3.47%.

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Two small-cap funds – Bajaj Finserv Small Cap Fund and Bank of India Small Cap Fund – fell by 3.44% and 3.36%, respectively. Quant Mid Cap Fund slipped around 3.20% in the same period.

Franklin India Small Cap Fund lost 2.70% between August 1 and August 29, followed by Quant Value Fund and Quant Large & Mid Cap Fund, which dropped 2.63% and 2.61%, respectively.

Bandhan Small Cap Fund registered a decline of 2.43%, while Quant Small Cap Fund and LIC MF Small Cap Fund each dipped by 2.10%.

Nippon India Small Cap Fund, the largest small-cap fund by assets, slipped 1.82%, followed by SBI Midcap Fund, which fell 1.78%.

Kotak Small Cap Fund lost 1.65% in August. HSBC ELSS Tax Saver Fund and HSBC Focused Fund slipped 1.46% and 1.45%, respectively.

SBI Multicap Fund and Invesco India Multicap Fund declined 1.02% each, while SBI ELSS Tax Saver Fund fell 0.98%.

Mirae Asset Flexi Cap Fund and Mirae Asset Small Cap Fund dropped 0.72%, while Mirae Asset ELSS Tax Saver Fund and Mirae Asset Focused Fund lost 0.69% and 0.68%, respectively.

SBI Large & Midcap Fund and SBI Contra Fund slipped 0.63%, and HDFC Mid Cap Fund fell 0.57%.

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund and Nippon India Flexi Cap Fund dipped 0.33%.

HSBC Large Cap Fund and Bandhan ELSS Tax Saver Fund were the last in the list, each losing 0.02% in August.

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Market movement

In August, Nifty50 and BSE Sensex lost 0.56% and 0.98%, respectively. The Nifty Midcap 150 – TRI declined by 1.53%, while the Nifty Smallcap 250 – TRI fell by 1.99% during the same period.

In August, Nifty50 and BSE Sensex lost 0.56% and 0.98%, respectively. The Nifty Midcap 150 – TRI declined by 1.53%, while the Nifty Smallcap 250 – TRI fell 1.99% during the same period.

Positive performers

ICICI Prudential Flexicap Fund delivered the highest positive return of around 1.69% in August, followed by JM ELSS Tax Saver Fund and Helios Mid Cap Fund, which gave 1.62% and 1.61%, respectively, in the same period.
Two funds from HDFC Mutual Fund—HDFC Flexi Cap Fund and HDFC ELSS Tax Saver Fund—offered returns of 0.85% and 0.66%, respectively.

SBI Flexicap Fund offered a return of 0.24%. Two funds from Edelweiss Mutual Fund—Edelweiss Focused Fund and Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund—returned 0.14% and 0.09%, respectively.

Axis Large Cap Fund and Taurus Mid Cap Fund were the last ones to offer positive returns of 0.02% each.

We considered all equity mutual funds, excluding sectoral and thematic funds. We considered regular and growth-oriented funds and calculated the performance of these funds in the month of August.

Note: The above exercise is not a recommendation. It was done to find how equity mutual funds performed from August 1 to August 29.

Investment or redemption decisions should not be based solely on this exercise. Investment decisions should always be made based on risk appetite, investment horizon, and goals.