Oil & gas and media stocks moved higher on the fund manager’s favourite list, while metal and banking stocks lost sheen in mutual fund portfolios. Food & beverages, services, and chemicals were among the other percentage losers.

Engineering and information technology retained the top slots as the most held sector, while auto moved higher to the third position replacing banks, which slipped to the fourth slot. (Check out - Which sectors are attracting Fund managers?) 

A Moneycontrol study of open-ended equity schemes of 24 mutual funds for this fiscal reveals that investments in oil & gas sector stood at Rs 5762 crore as on July 31, 2006 as against Rs 4028 crore on March 31, 2006 as 17 MFs hiked their exposure to this sector. Pru ICICI MF was the most bullish fund house as it stepped up its exposure from Rs 335 crore to Rs 756 crore. During the same period, BSE Oil & Gas Index was the sole gainer, up 2.66%.

Investments in the media sector surged from Rs 1,914 crore to Rs 2,336 crore as 10 mutual funds added to their investments in the sector. HDFC MF placed the highest bet as its exposure shot up by 149% to Rs 439 crore. 

Meanwhile, metals was the most extensively sold sector. Exposure to metals fell 21% to Rs 3734 crore. These stocks were sold by 16 MFs with Reliance MF being the most bearish. Besides metal, food and beverages, IT and chemical sectors were among the other percentage losers with net mutual fund investments down by more than 15%.