Small and midcap funds fare well in Q2: CRISIL

Mumbai: The small and midcap fund category was the only positive performer among pure equity mutual funds, in the latest quarter ended September 2015, rating agency CRISIL has said.

The category, represented by CRISIL-AMFI Small & Midcap Fund Performance Index, managed to stay positive at 0.64 percent, while all other categories and benchmarks ended lower.

As a whole, the small and midcap segment, represented by CNX Midcap index, fell lower compared with other benchmark indices, it said.

Further, over the ranking history period spanning 3 years, the category gave 26 percent annualized returns, over 6 percent higher than the nearest equity mutual fund category including ELSS (represented by CRISIL-AMFI ELSS Mutual Fund Performance Index).

The category also outperformed all other equity categories across all periods analysed, it said.

Stocks covering 25 percent of assets (27 stocks) gave an average 169 percent absolute returns over the three-year period ended September 2015, compared with 44 percent returns for similarly portioned assets (5 stocks) of large cap funds, it added.

The out-performance of small and midcap funds also came with lesser volatility at 13.92 percent (measured by standard deviation), compared with 15.37 percent for large cap funds (represented by CRISIL-AMFI Large Cap Fund Performance Index) over the last three years, ending September, 2015.

Unlike most other ranking models, which are based purely on returns or net asset value, CRISIL Mutual Fund Ranking uses a combination of NAV and portfolio-based attributes. The rankings also include categories that assign specific focus on consistent performance in the long run.