FIIs shift focus to mid-caps

INDIA INC MARCHES AHEAD

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are increasingly expanding the list of investible scrips to include mid-cap stocks as they find value plays in this segment.

"There is a shift in sectoral plays," said Deepak Chhabria, chief operating officer, institutional equity at IL&FS Investsmart.

FII investments in mid-cap stocks have increased significantly in the last three months, he pointed out.

Analysts said that in the current market upsurge, there has been a rally, though the gains in the benchmark indices may not be significant. "At one point of time Infosys and Satyam were both mid-caps," Chhabria pointed out.

FIIs are also significantly getting into the IT sector "" the sector has remained relatively unaffected by the increase in oil prices.

Analysts tracking the economy said India has also been less impacted than most other countries by the rise in crude prices since the country sources most of its requirements from Dubai, where the increase in prices has been lesser than in the US.

Arab crude is still ruling at $37 per barrel against Brent crude which peaked at $55.35 per barrel last week.

Susanta Mazumdar of UBS Investment Research said: "Over the past one month, while Brent crude prices have risen by $10/barrel, Dubai crude has risen by just $2.60 to $37.80. The difference between Brent and Dubai (crude prices) has widened to $14.9/barrel as against the 15-year average of $3.4. Due to this significant price differential, FIIs are also bullish on the oil sector."

Cement is another sector where FIIs are betting on "" again they have largely ignored the blue-chips among them and a significant portion of their allocations has gone into the second-rung stocks.

Chhabria expects some of the current mid-caps to get into the large cap league by the end of this year.