The Hindu Business Line : <I>UTI Master Value </I>

Between December 2005 and February 2006, UTI Master Value Fund has recast its portfolio size to a compact 25 stocks from about 40 earlier. The assets under management grew 55 per cent to Rs 796 crore.

The pruning of the portfolio may have resulted in the fund sitting on a pile of cash and cash equivalents. Current assets accounted for close to 40 per cent of the total as of February 2006.

We take a look at the churn made by the fund during the above period. The top five stocks in the portfolio made up 20 per cent of the total asset value.

However, exposure to a single stock is restricted to 5 per cent. While Tube Investments retained its place as the stock with maximum allocation, Gammon India and Reliance Energy replaced Bharat Electronics and SKF India in the top-five slot.

As a fund seeking under-valued stocks, the UTI Master Value took to adding more energy stocks to its portfolio. Apart from Reliance Energy, ONGC was also added to the portfolio.

The fund continued its holding in Ucal Fuel systems and BOC India. Energy stocks have been laggards in the markets in 2005 and reflect price-earnings multiple that are lower than broad market valuations.

In the construction space, the fund booked profits in the stock of Unitech. The stock delivered returns of 145 per cent between October 2005 and February 2006. It instead took fresh exposure to Bharat McNally Engineering, another engineering and construction company keen to capitalise on the infrastructure boom in the country. The run-up in sugar stocks led to selling of Balrampur Chini Mills.

The auto-ancillary space saw some reshuffling. Bearings appeared to have lost flavour, as the fund exited NRB bearings and FAG Bearings. It also sold Exide Industries and, instead, accumulated Apollo Tyres and Sundram Fasteners.

UTI Master Value is an open-ended equity fund that aims at investing in under-valued stocks. some of the stocks.

Vidya Bala

More Stories on : Mutual Funds | Mutual Funds

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page