Career Search

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Long-term debt funds

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms

Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

Buy Gold Mutual Funds

Leave a missed Call on

94 8300 8300

 

Long-term debt funds





Long duration bond funds are poised to benefit the most from a dip in interest rates.

 

After many troubled months of above-average interest rates in the Indian economy, investors may soon gain some respite in the form of reduced interest rates. With lower interest rates, long-duration bond fund-holders will gain the most mileage in the next few years as the dip in interest rates pushes up the prices of long-duration bonds the fastest.

Long-duration bond fund holders are in a sweet spot. The present macroeconomic situation has tilted the scales in their favour as interest rates appear all set to dip. The Reserve Bank of India has been hold ing interest rates at higher levels for some time now, and this provides investors with the much-needed time to settle into longer duration bond funds.

The 10-year government securities (G-sec) yield is at a peak, currently hovering around 8.36%. The liquidity situation has improved in the recent past. As the RBI keeps the rates tight, the real rate of return in the hands of the investors is getting better. This is expected to drive more investors into financial assets in the coming months, which would then pump liquidity into the system. In turn, this should have a beneficial effect of lower bond yields in the months ahead.

In the past, whenever 10-year G-sec yields held above the long-term average, we have seen steep drops in yields in the next 18 months.

To top it all, the current account deficit has considerably improved in the past few quarters and India's balance of payments has swung back to a surplus during the October-December 2013 quarter, aided by strong flows in debt and equity. A better current account deficit helps external trade balances and boosts domestic liquidity.

Long-duration bond holders will also benefit from falling inflation, which has been easing significantly of late. In September 2014, the consumer price inflation (CPI) came in at a softer 6.46%, down from 7.7% in the preceding month. The RBI has shifted its inflation-monitoring benchmark to the CPI, with a target of 6% by January 2016 for this indicator. Signs of lower inflation levels should see a cut in the interest rate sooner or later.

Longer duration bond fund holders stand to benefit the most when the inter est rate shifts down. As the interest rates fall, bond prices begin to accelerate. In fact, many different maturities of bond prices tend to appreciate in value with falling rates, but the largest gainers are longer dated bonds, those with more than five years' maturity.

Hence, in the present environment, investors would do well to add duration to their bond fund holdings. Duration is in essence the exposure of bond funds to longer maturity fixed-income instruments. Lengthening the duration of their holdings in a bond fund improves the prospects of a bond fund, and positions such holdings to benefit from falling rates.

Bond funds generally come with varying maturities, from ultra-short term to medium and long term. Gains accrue to investors in short-term funds. In long-term funds, gains are made through price increases in debt holdings when rates decrease.

Hence, investors should begin to increase the exposure to these long-duration funds over time. A short term bond fund which invests in securities that mature in about a year or so, should still gain from falling interest rates, but the gains are not as much as a fund with a longer duration.

However, longer duration bond funds tend to be more volatile in the short term depending on interest rate movements and anticipation of policy rates. Further, if the RBI holds the rates at elevated levels for some more time, the gains in long-duration bond funds could take some time to be visible. However, by holding to a longer term horizon while going in for longer duration debt funds, say, of two to three years, while ignoring short-term volatility, the scales tilt immensely in favour of the long-term bond investor.



 

For further information contact Prajna Capital on 94 8300 8300 by leaving a missed call

Leave a missed Call on 94 8300 8300

Leave your comment with mail ID and we will answer them

OR

You can write back to us at

PrajnaCapital [at] Gmail [dot] Com

---------------------------------------------

Invest Mutual Funds Online

Invest Any Mutual Fund Online

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Mutual Any Fund Application Forms

---------------------------------------------

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Franklin India Bluechip
      4. ICICI Prudential Top 100 Fund

B. Large and Midcap Funds Invest Online

      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
      4. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
      5. Franklin India Prima

C. Mid and SmallCap Funds Invest Online

      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
      5. Birla Sun Life Dividend Yield Plus
      6. SBI Emerging Businesses Fund
      7. HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund
      8. ICICI Prudential Discovery Fund

D. Small and MicroCap Funds Invest Online

      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
      2. Franklin India Smaller Companies

E. Sector Funds Invest Online

      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
      3. ICICI Prudential Banking and Financial Services Fund

F. Tax Saver Mutual Funds Invest Online

1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan

2. HDFC Taxsaver

      1. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund
      2. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund

G. Gold Mutual Funds Invest Online

      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund
      4. Birla Sun Life Gold

H. International funds Invest Online

1. Birla Sun Life International Equity Plan A

2. DSP BlackRock US Flexible Equity

3. FT India Feeder Franklin US Opportunities

4. ICICI Prudential US Bluechip Equity

5. Motilal Oswal MOSt Shares NASDAQ-100 ETF

No comments: