Page 9 - Fund Return News Today

There are no changes in the list this month. All the schemes fared well. Please follow our monthly updates to keep track of your investments.

Gilt funds are not recommended to regular debt investors because they are risky and volatile. Gilt funds suffer the most when the rates go up. The bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. When the rates go up, bond prices come down. This drag down the NAVs of schemes.

Mutual fund advisors say banking & PSU debt schemes are ‘relatively safe because these schemes invest only in bonds and papers of banks and public sector companies. Since most of these entities are government-backed, they dont have the credit risk.

These schemes invest at least 80% of their corpus in the papers of the highest-rated companies. This makes them relatively safer than other debt schemes such as credit risk funds. They are also safer than gilt funds and long term debt funds that are highly sensitive to interest rate changes in the economy.

Gilt funds are debt mutual funds that invest in government-securities or G-secs. As per Sebi norms, these schemes must invest 80% of their corpus in government securities. As you see, these schemes invest in government papers or they lend to the government. Therefore, they dont have any credit risk or they face zero defaults.

Dynamic bond funds have the freedom to invest across securities and maturities depending on the outlook of the fund manager. So, when the rates go up, the fund manager might bet on short term securities as a rate hike will marginally impact them. When rates start falling, he will invest in long-term instruments to make money.

As per Sebi mandate, medium duration funds must invest in debt and money market instruments with Macaulay duration of three to four years.

ETMutualFundss best mutual fund SIP portfolios are meant for three different individual risk profiles: conservative, moderate and aggressive. We have also considered three SIP baskets – between Rs 2,000-5,000, between Rs 5,000-10,000 and above Rs 10,000 – while creating these portfolios. Take a look at our recommended portfolios.

Medium to long term funds have a mandate to invest in debt and money market instruments with a duration of four to seven years. These schemes are suitable for debt investors with a long horizon and willingness to take extra risk.

These schemes invest in both short term bonds and very short term instruments. They invest in treasury bills, commercial papers, certificates of deposits and so on to take care of their liquidity needs. They also invest in corporate bonds, government securities, etc.