NewsWire18, Tuesday, Nov 3 . By Himadri Buch MUMBAI - As broad market indices declined in October, fast moving consumer goods funds category posted the best average monthly returns with the underlying stocks acting as a defensive bet. However, FMCG funds--benchmarked against BSE FMCG Index--failed to beat the benchmark that rose 9.05%, posting 6.40% returns in October. Of the three FMCG funds, Franklin FMCG topped the list with 8.93% returns, while Magnum FMCG registered lowest returns at 4.10%. The next best-performing category was gold exchange traded funds, which gave 2.00% returns. Domestic gold prices continued to surge in October, tracking overseas market where rates escalated on momentum buying. Friday, spot pure gold closed at 16,045 rupees per 10 gm, against 15,700 rupees a month ago. In the equity category, barring FMCG and pharmaceutical funds, all others declared a decline in returns. In October, Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex and National Stock Exchange Nifty fell 7.18% and 7.32%, respectively, on weak overseas cues. Index funds, which track the broad share indices, were the worst hit with negative 6.34% returns last month. Despite Infosys Technologies posting better-than-expected quarterly results, technology shares declined as rupee strengthened against the dollar, thus impacting companies' revenues. Information technology funds recorded 4.38% fall in returns during October. In comparison, BSE IT and CNX IT indices fell 3.18% and 1.43%, respectively, during the period under review. Diversified and tax planning funds registered 4.48% and 4.51% negative returns, respectively, last month. Among debt funds, returns from medium and long-term gilt funds were almost flat month-on-month on fears of liquidity tightening. After the Reserve Bank of India's mid-term review of Annual Policy Statement for 2009-10 (Apr-Mar), Governor D. Subbarao had said open market operations could also be used to drain liquidity. On Oct 27, the RBI kept Repo and Reverse Repo rates and Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged. Banks' Statutory Liquidity Ratio was hiked to 25% from 24%. It also kept unchanged gross domestic product growth projection for 2009-10 at 6.0% with an upside bias. . Highlights of gainers and losers ================================ . DIVERSIFIED EQUITY FUNDS: of the 248 schemes, 224 fared better than the Sensex, while 226 outperformed the Nifty. * OPEN-ENDED: --Top performers: Birla Sun Life MNC (1.15%), Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Midcap (0.22%) and Tata Dividend Yield Fund (-0.32%). --Worst performers: DBS Chola Global Advantage (-12.08%), JM Large Cap (-9.73%), ING Contra (-9.66%). . * CLOSE-ENDED: Of the 45 schemes, 43 outperformed both the Sensex and Nifty. --Top performers: Religare Mid N Small Cap (-0.51%), Franklin India Smaller Companies (-0.75%), and DSP BlackRock Microcap -Regular (-0.80%). --Worst performers: DBS Chola Infrastructure (-9.13%), LICMF Infrastructure (-8.39%), and LICMF Top 100 (-7.03%). . TAX-SAVING FUNDS: * OPEN-ENDED: Of the 36 schemes, 34 outperformed the Sensex and 35 gave better returns than Nifty. --Top performer: Quantum Tax Saving (-1.20%). --Worst performer: LICMF Tax Plan (-9.73%). . * CLOSE-ENDED: Of the 12 funds, 11 were better than both the Sensex and Nifty. --Top performer: SBI Tax Advantage Series I (-2.01%). --Worst performer: JM Equity Tax Saver Fund - Series-I (-8.27%). . INDEX FUNDS: --Top performers: Kotak PSU Bank ETF (-0.61%). --Worst performers: Shariah BeES (-7.98%). . GILT PLANS: --Top performers: Religare Gilt Longer Duration-Retail (2.50%), Birla Sun Life Gilt Plus (1.08%), and Kotak Gilt Investment-Regular (0.70%). --Worst performers: LICMF GSF (-0.96%), Mirae Asset Gilt Advantage-Institutional (-0.45%), and Reliance Gilt Securities-PF (-0.39%). . MEDIUM-TERM INCOME SCHEMES --Top performers: ICICI Prudential Income Opportunities (0.99%), Reliance Regular Savings Debt-Retail (0. 69%), IDFC SSI Medium-term Plan A (0.68%). --Worst performers: Tata Dynamic Bond-A (-0.43%), JM Income (-0.22%), Religare Active Income Fund-Retail (-0.17%). . LIQUID FUNDS --Top performers: Fortis Overnight-Regular (0.47%). --Worst performers: Birla Sun Life Cash Plus Sweep (0.04%). . Category-wise comparison of monthly average returns: . (Returns in %) Category October September ---------------------------------------------------------------------- . EQUITY ====== FMCG 6.40 1.86 Pharma 0.68 11.02 Banking (-) 3.22 12.61 Technology (-) 4.38 7.17 Diversified (-) 4.48 7.11 Tax planning (-) 4.51 7.38 Index (-) 6.34 10.52 . Gold ETF 2.00 2.87 . HYBRID ====== Arbitrage 0.50 0.37 Debt oriented balanced (-) 0.49 1.97 Monthly Income plan (-) 0.43 1.49 Asset Allocation (-) 2.87 4.18 Equity oriented balanced (-) 3.59 5.53 . DEBT ==== Liquid Plus 0.36 0.36 Short term floaters 0.33 0.32 Liquid Plans 0.27 0.28 Long term floaters 0.40 0.47 Short term debt 0.43 0.45 Short term gilt 0.13 0.31 Medium term debt 0.28 0.57 Long&Medium term gilts 0.00 0.93 --------------------------------------------------------------------- . End . Edited by Mansi Kelkar . NewsWire18 Tel +91 (22) 6637-8700 Send comments to feedback@newswire18.com . Copyright NewsWire18 Pvt. Ltd. 2007. All rights reserved. Category : I/MUT I/FIN R/ASI R/IN R/SHA S/TOP