BSE, Paytm to NALCO: Top mid-cap and small-cap stocks that mutual funds bought and sold in April

April proved to be a good month for the Indian equity markets, as both mutual funds and foreign investors ploughed in significant funds, sending the benchmark indices — Sensex and Nifty — 4% higher.

Mutual funds bought ₹17,000 crore worth of stocks in the Indian secondary market, alongside ₹10,400 crore FII buying, showed a report by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research.

Within the mid-cap and small-cap space, some of the notable names that saw significant buying and selling by mutual fund houses include Paytm, BSE, NALCO, Coforge and Voltas, among others.

Mid-cap stock buys and sells

From the mid-cap space, key buying was seen in Lupin, Coforge, Colgate-Palmolive, PI Industries and Persistent Systems, according to data from Nuvama Research.

The mid-cap pharma stock was among the top buy of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Quant Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund in the month of April. MFs' stake in Lupin increased by nearly 3 million shares to 83 million, as they bought stocks worth ₹600 crore. The strong buying action drove the stock over 3% higher last month, after a 6% rally in March.

Meanwhile, in Coforge, MFs' stake rose by 2 million shares, with the value of their holding rising by ₹1,500 crore. As for Persistent Systems, they added stocks worth ₹700 crore, showed data.

On the other hand, significant selling was seen in shares of Voltas, Max Healthcare, One 97 Communications (Paytm), Info Edge and M&M Financial Services.

Mutual funds sold nearly 7 million shares of Voltas, worth ₹900 crore, bringing their holding down to 55 million from 62 million on a month-on-month basis. The selling action in the stock sent it over 15% lower in April.

Meanwhile, in Paytm, mutual funds booked profit after two straight months of rally, wherein the new-age stock jumped 20%. MFs sold 12 million Paytm shares, bringing down their holding to 71 million. The value of their holding in Paytm shares dipped by ₹1000 crore.

Small-cap stock buys and sells

In the small-cap space, BSE, NBCC, Cyient, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank and Apar Industries emerged as the top mutual fund stock picks.

BSE share price, which is trading at record high levels following strong Q4 results and record date for bonus issue, is rewarding mutual funds handsomely as it was among their top pick in the small-cap segment.

It was among the top small-cap stock holdings of Kotak Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund and Nippon India Mutual Fund.

In Ujjivan SFB, mutual funds raised their stake significantly, as they lapped up 62 million shares. This resulted in a change in the value of their holding by ₹300 crore.

However, the highest selling was seen in Amber Enterprises, NALCO, Blue Star, 360 One and Galaxy Surfactant.

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