Cash level is the percentage of a fund’s total assets which are held in cash. Cash is required by the fund in order to handle transactions and day-to-day redemptions of shares. Cash level can signal a fund manager’s sense of caution or optimism about the markets. A higher cash level would represent the fund manager’s bearish market outlook as he is holding back on making new purchases.

Ratings represent the creditworthiness of the securities which the funds invest in to. It is inversely proportional to the risk the security is exposed to. A large chunk in AAA/Sovereign paper (which is the highest rating) implies that the fund is taking lower credit risk. On the other hand, a higher allocation to AA+/AA paper underlines the fact that the fund manager is taking relatively higher credit risk.