Equity mutual funds (MFs) stopped buying stocks in July despite a 9% rise in the benchmark index. Last month, they only invested Rs 4,712 crore in equities, compared to Rs 22,051 crore and Rs 28,248 crore in June and May, respectively.

MF investment slows as foreign portfolio investor (FPI) flows recover. FPI traffic turned positive in July after an 11-month hiatus — albeit by a small margin. Typically, when the FPI sells, the MF buys more; when the FPI buys, the MF slows down.

Maruti Suzuki attracted the highest MF traffic at Rs 1,342 crore, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank at Rs 822 crore. On the other hand, HDFC (Rs 1,245 crore net outflow) and ITC (Rs 873 crore) were the top sellers.

Among mid-caps, the top sellers were Zomato (Rs 502 crore) and Gland Pharma (Rs 452 crore), while the top sellers were Polycab India (Rs 272 crore) and PVR (Rs 175 crore). Meanwhile, Sapphire Foods (Rs 302 crore) and Granules India (Rs 168 crore) saw the highest MF inflows among small caps, while Birlasoft (Rs 90 crore) and Metropolis Health (Rs 73 crore) saw the highest outflows.