mumbai unitholders of domestic insurance firms equity products have gained more or lost lesser than investors in mutual funds and foreign institutions in the past three years according to an et study the investment strategy of buying in a weak market and selling when stocks are rising has helped insurance fund managers perform better than other institutional investors said money managers at insurers and mutual funds the value of equity investments of insurance companies rose 2328 in 201011 and 782 in 201112 mutual funds stock investment value grew 2291 in 201011 and 045 in 201112 so far in 201213 insurers stock investment value has dropped 59 while that of mutual funds declined 64 according to the et study of all bselisted companies the calculation is based on the number of shares held by institutions multiplied by the value at the end of each fiscal after deducting fresh inflows in 201011 and 201112 we do sell whenever valuations go up this is the prime reason why equity portfolios of insurance companies outperform the broader market said abhijit gulanikar cio sbi life insurance when the sensex rose 1094 in 201011 insurance companies bought stocks worth 3138 crore while foreign investors poured 114lakh crore into the indian market in 201112 when the sensex dipped 105 insurance companies sold stocks worth 9652 crore while foreigners bought equities to the tune of 40000 crore insurers have bought shares worth 1625 crore so far in 201213 against foreign institutions selling of nearly 2000 crore the sensex has dropped 68 from march 31 till date insurance companies are able to sell on rise and buy on declines in the stock market because of the steady flow of premium money into their equity products unlike mutual funds or fiis we are getting funds on a regular basis and we are waiting for the right opportunity to enter said the chief investment officer of an insurance company the opportunity could be the situation where there are only sellers and no buyers on the other side an fii or a mutual fund gets money only when there is a positive sentiment in the market he said insurers investments have been limited to a few sectors while insurers invested in nearly 640 listed companies 68 of their investments were spread across companies belonging to five sectors including banks oil gas consumer goods software and auto in banks a majority of the investments came from lic which helped several staterun banks meet their capital requirements punjab national bank axis bank syndicate bank united bank of india development credit bank and uco bank were among top picks of insurance companies