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The June quarter has been positive for equities, as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to increase their stakes in the BSE 200 companies. On the other hand, individuals and mutual funds continue to pare their stakes. In the June quarter, FIIs net-bought equities worth Rs 16,600 crore. Their share in the overall BSE 200 companies rose from 22.2 per cent in March to 22.6 at the end of the June quarter.
What did they buy? In sharp contrast to the carnage banking stocks have seen in August, in the quarter ended June, FIIs bought in the banking, pharmaceuticals and utilities sectors, according to Kotak Institutional Equities, which has done a detailed research on the ownership pattern in the June quarter.
The specific stocks that saw FII buying include ICICI Bank, DLF, Adani Ports, Purvankara Projects, Strides Arcolab and Oracle Financial Services. They sold Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries. Large stakes were also sold in United Spirits, HDIL and Suzlon Energy. While several promoters reduced their stakes to comply with the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) norms, by and large the overall promoter shareholding (non-government) went up from 26.29 per cent at the end of the March quarter to 26.48 per cent in June. Foreign promoters hiked their stakes from 6.92 per cent in March to 7.32 per cent in June. Both individuals and mutual funds saw their shareholding come down marginally sequentially.
| WHO BOUGHT WHAT |
Foreign Institutional Investors
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Mutual funds remained net sellers during the quarter and sold banking, consumer and pharmaceutical stocks. In terms of specific stocks, MFs bought Reliance Industries, Housing Development Finance Corp and Larsen and Toubro , while they sold ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever and State Bank of India. Hindustan Unilever seems to have lost the confidence of fund managers across the board, not just domestic mutual funds, as slowing consumption does not justify its premium valuations. Both FIIs and mutual funds are also underweight on ITC.
Mutual funds were overweight on industrials, banking and pharmaceuticals stocks, underweight on consumer products and automobiles stocks. Domestic banks and institutions bought automobile and technology stocks. Going by the previous quarter’s overweight positions, FIIs were overweight on the banking and technology sectors and underweight on energy, consumer products and industrials sectors. However, things look significantly different now with the currency falling to new levels and investors turning jittery.
