Reliance and Bharat Petroleum take oil & gas to top league of MF assets

ET Intelligence Group: The weightage of oil & gas stocks in the portfolios of domestic mutual funds touched a record high on higher allocations to Reliance Industries and BPCLNSE 0.97 %. The share of energy stocks in mutual funds’ portfolios rose 8.7 per cent in October 2019 compared with an average of 7.2 per cent in the past two years, according to data compiled by Motilal Oswal. The weight of oil & gas has been consistently increasing in the past five months. Consequently, the ranking of the oil & gas sector jumped to the top three in sectoral exposure. This is a big move from seventh rank just a year ago. On the flip side, the weightage of the technology sector declined to a 17-month low.

Domestic mutual funds’ holdings in RILNSE 3.60 % and BPCL rose by 9 per cent and 17 per cent on a month-on-month basis in October. Their interest renewed in RIL after it hiked telecom tariffs by introducing a top-up charge for calls to rival mobile networks and a series of announcements to deleverage its balance sheet.