equity fund...

[the_wildthing]

You should not be concerned with daily fluctuations, or even monthly fluctuations, of equity funds. As long as the fund is managed well, you will see better returns than, say, a bond fund. The investment horizon for mutual funds should be five years or more. And you should be investing regularly to make dollar cost averaging work for you.

That being said, a mutual fund should not be a place to keep funds that you need on short notice. This type of investment is buy-and-forget.