Foreign funds go index-heavy
Mumbai: An analysis of the data provided to stock exchanges reveals that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been putting in huge amounts into Sensex and Nifty stocks over the past three months and have increased their stakes in 38 out of the index stocks in the April-June quarter.

The data reveals that about 65 percent of the Rs 4,200 crore invested by FIIs in the past three months have gone into stocks such as Reliance, Hindustan Lever, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Grasim and Satyam, stocks, which have a combined weightage of over 30 percent in the sensex.

The largest buy of about 2.3 crore shares worth Rs 680 crore, was seen in Reliance and the FII stake in RIL has risen to 16.3 percent as on June 30, from 14.7 percent in the previous quarter.

FIIs have also increased their stakes in frontline IT stocks such as Infosys, Satyam and NIIT.
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MFs reduce auto stakes
New Delhi: Fund managers seem to have reduced exposure to auto stocks. The shareholding pattern in a number of auto companies reveals that mutual funds and UTI have been selling their stakes the first quarter of this fiscal.
For instance Bajaj Auto has seen a drop of 58 percent in mutual fund holding from 4.33 percent on March 31, to 1.82 percent on June 30, 2003.
Hindustan Motors and LML also saw a drop of 32 percent and 78 percent respectively during the review period.

This is despite that fact that auto stocks have been zooming in the past two months. Analysts say the reason is that performance of auto stocks is near peak levels and is not likely to rise further.

The top stock in the auto sector was Eicher Motors, which jumped 123 percent from Rs 67 (March 31) to Rs 150 (June 30). TVS and Hero Honda too moved up 44.5 percent and 34.5 percent respectively, while the conventional mover and shaker of the auto mart, Bajaj Auto, scored a 19 percent increase to Rs 573 (from Rs 480). Telco has also seen a very strong rise in stock prices.

However, mutual funds seem to be holding on to two-wheeler stocks because of lower profits recorded in the first quarter and the 5 percent growth in bike demand in the first six months of the calendar is expected to lead these stocks to move higher.
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