Widely read:
August 2008 was a month of contradictory parallels in many ways at the Value Research Fund Ratings. To begin with, the month saw 10 funds being upgraded to the elite 5-star category but at the same time, nine funds lost their 5-star rating.
The 10 funds with their newly acquired premium 5-star status were DSPML Equity, DWS Alpha Equity, HDFC Prudence, HDFC Top 200, JM Basic, ICICI Prudential Gilt Investment PF, ABN AMRO Flexi Debt Reg, Principal MIP Plus, UTI Master Index and HSBC Income Short-term. Of these, the first five belong to the equity diversified category. While DWS Alpha Equity achieved the 5-star status for the first time, DSPML Equity, HDFC Prudence and HDFC Top 200 regained this status that they had lost earlier.
On the other hand, the nine losers of the month were Birla Sun Life Short-term Retail, Canara Robeco Gilt (PGS), HSBC Equity, ICICI Prudential Flexible Income, LICMF Floater MIP Plan A, Magnum Balanced, Reliance Growth, Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Focus Reg and UTI Sunder. All of these funds slipped one step down the rating ladder.
The month saw five new additions to the ratings family. Magnum Comma entered the ratings as a 4-star fund while Birla Sun Life India GenNext, HDFC Multiple Yield Plan 2005, IDFC Classic Equity and Taurus Liquid were awarded the 2- or 3-star rating. What was noteworthy was that three of the five newly rated funds were from the equity diversified category.
As far as the fund houses were concerned, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund retained its top spot on the charts with seven 5-star funds. However, when the 4-star and 5-star rated funds were combined, ICICI Prudential came out on top with a total of 16 funds, 12 of which are 4-star funds.
All in all, there were 43 upgrades and 42 downgrades in the month of August, while 363 funds maintained a status quo. The most significant upgrade of the month was in HSBC Income Short-term which got elevated from a 3-star status to a 5-star status. On the other hand, Magnum Gilt Long-term PF FP3Y has been dragged two steps down the ladder, from its prior three star status.
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