Mutual Fund Flows Diverge From Returns Across Major Categories

Mutual fund investors did not always choose categories that earned the most money.

In equity funds, flexi-cap funds attracted the most new money.

Small-cap funds had the best average return among the listed equity categories.

Large-cap funds received money even though their average return was negative.

In debt funds, liquid funds attracted the most money, while nearly every other listed category had outflows.

These debt categories still showed positive average returns.

In hybrid funds, multi-asset allocation funds led both inflows and returns.

Conservative hybrid funds lost money from investors even though they had a positive return.

This shows that investor decisions and recent fund performance do not always move together.