FIIs are back as sensex rallies

Increase Holdings In 157 Cos In Jan-Mar Quarter

Chennai: Mirroring the changed outlook for Indian equities, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have enhanced their grip by increasing their stakes in 157 companies in the January-March quarter.
    Companies which saw FIIs significantly raising their stakes include Onmobile Global (9.31% stake rise), followed by Uttam Galva Steels (8.82%), IVRCL Infra (5.51%), Maruti Suzuki (4.97%), GMR Industries (4.48%), Austral Coke (3.95%), Nelco (3.8%), IRB Infra (3.32%), Balasore Alloys (3.28%), AmtekAuto (3.25%). Others such as Mindtree (3.01%), Grasim (2.54%), Hero Honda (2.33%) and Unitech (2.28%) also witnessed FII hike their holdings in the three months of last fiscal, according to CMIE data.
    "What will matter most towards end of FY10 will be the outlook for FY11, when we expect the economy to grow 8% and corporate earnings to increase close to trend levels of 10-12%. We doubt if this has been priced in, and believe the markets may be pleasantly surprised towards the end of 2009,'' an HSBC economist said.
    In early April, Goldman Sachs raised India's stock rating to 'market weight', the first upgrade, since it was rated 'underweight' in January 2008. "We are raising our long-standing underweight stance on India to market weight, because we believe that India's investment merits relative to other regional alternatives have improved,'' a Goldman Sachs analyst said. FIIs have pumped in more than Rs 4,000 crore into the stock markets in the last 13 trading days of the new fiscal. FIIs are particularly buying now when pessimism is maximum as they expect to reap benefits when the economy gains strength later, marketmen added.
    However, foreign investors shed their stakes in 463 out the 869 companies (that FII exposure at the end of October-December 2008 quarter) with stocks across sectors getting offloaded in the January-March quarter.
    While FIIs reduced holdings in Satyam by 29.15%, others such as Ansal Housing (- 17.91%), MALCO (-11.2%), ICSA (-8.46%), Patni Computers (-8.38%), Indian Overseas Bank (-8.22%), Financial Technologies (-7.85%), Aban Offshore (-7.64%), Gateway Distriparks (-7.01%), NIIT (-6.78%), S Kumars Nationwide (-6.45%), Bharat Bijlee (-6.12%) and Pyramid Saimira (-5.94%) were among the prominent names which figured on the list where the investors pared stakes.
    FIIs completely exited as many as 23 companies like Aksh Optifibre, Sharon Bio-Medicine, TIL, Innovative Foods, Lokesh Machines, BPL, Crew BOS, Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn and Grindweel Norton, CMIE data shows.
    Interestingly, 249 companies witnessed FIIs maintaining their holdings at the end-December '08 level. These include likes of Heritage Foods, Pritish Nandy Communications, Camlin, Dishman Pharma, Gemini Communications, EIH Associated Hotels, JMC Projects among others.