The best performing mutual funds

Riding on a buoyant stock market, the net asset values of one-third of the 213 equity-oriented mutual fund schemes in the market are ruling at an all-time high.

A fund's NAV, the price at which a unit is bought and sold, is derived by dividing its net assets by the number of outstanding units.

The index funds, which allocate resources as per the index they are benchmarked against, form a big chunk of these funds. Out of the 24 index funds in operation, 10 were quoting at their peak NAVs as on November 25.

However, it has to be noted that almost two-thirds of equity funds have not yet touched their peak or have come off their peaks.

The index funds which are ruling at their highest NAVs are Birla Index Fund (Rs 27.39), Franklin India Index Fund-Sensex plan (Rs 25.14), HDFC Index Fund-Sensex plan (Rs 83.08) and Sensex-Plus plan (Rs 95.84), Prudential ICICI Index Fund (Rs 23.27), Tata Index Fund-Nifty plan (Rs 26.03) and Sensex plan (Rs 26.47), UTI Master Index Fund (Rs 27.69) and UTI Nifty Fund (Rs 16.88).

Fund houses with most schemes quoting at their life-time high NAVs include Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund and UTI Mutual Fund.

Seven out of 15 equity schemes of Birla are at their peak, while seven out of 14 schemes of Templeton Mutual Fund and eight out of 11 schemes of HDFC Mutual Fund are also ruling at an all-time high. UTI Mutual Fund takes the cake with 17 out of 27 equity schemes quoting at their peak NAV.

Apart from any number of diversified equity schemes, several sectoral schemes have also made a killing. Among them are DSP ML Technology.com Fund, DSP ML Tiger Fund, Franklin Pharma Fund, JM Auto Sector Fund, JM Pharma Fund and SBI Magnum Sector Umbrella - FMCG Fund.

But it has to be borne in mind that just because a fund is quoting at an all-time high, it is not necessary that it is also the best-performing fund.

Fund analysts point out that NAV in itself is not an indicator of how well the fund has performed.

"It doesn't matter whether the NAV of a scheme is Rs 10 or Rs 100; what matter is the fund performance over a period of time," says Hemant Rustagi, CEO of Mumabi-based financial advisory firm, Wiseinvest Advisors.