The Hindu Business Line : Infosys, BHEL see accumulation by equity funds in February

Equity fund managers appear to have used the steep market correction to accumulate frontline stocks in February. Trends in the top 50 stocks held across equity funds show that funds added to their exposure in as many as 26 stocks during the month, even as they reduced exposure in 18.

Funds seem to have rejigged their holdings within sectors such as banking and capital goods. Stocks such as Infosys, Satyam Computer, L&T and BHEL were among those added by a number of schemes.

Banking stocks within the top 50 have undergone a minor rejig. More than 10 funds reduced holdings in Punjab National Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank was shed by two funds; though 248 schemes, in all held on to the stock. HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda were accumulated by funds and each of these remained the top fifty.

Frontline IT stocks hovering close to 52 week lows saw accumulation by funds with 22 funds adding Infosys Technologies to their top holdings. In all, 175 funds were invested in the stock, out of which 24 had significant stakes between 5-10 per cent of their assets in the stock. Between Satyam Computer and TCS, the funds preferred the former and accumulated it.

Engineering

In the engineering space, funds accumulated shares of Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, Thermax, Crompton Greaves, ABB and Siemens. NTPC entered the top holdings for two more schemes. Power stocks — Tata Power and Reliance Energy were shed by 13 and 12 funds respectively. Jindal Steel and Power and Suzlon Energy were too pruned by few schemes. Cairn India, which had moved into the top 50 in January, has not participated in the on going correction. Funds used the opportunity to book profits, and Cairn has moved out of the top 50 holdings across funds in February. Recently listed Future Capital also exited the top fifty.

Pharma

In the pharma space, Sun Pharma was added by quite a few funds while Ranbaxy was pared. Ranbaxy Laboratories was shed by 7 schemes. Other notable stocks accumulated over this period were Aditya Birla Nuvo, Tata Steel, HDFC, ITC and Tata Motors. In the telecommunication space, holdings in Reliance Communication were pruned, as more funds switched to Bharti Airtel.

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