Retail investors were not too keen to increase their exposure in the equity markets during the quarter ended June 2003.
Out of 2,060 companies, for which the shareholding data for the period are available, around 82 per cent (1,687 companies) have reported no change or just marginal movement in the public holding.
During the quarter, most of the Sensex stocks remained neglected by retail investors since their holding in these firms have not showed major changes.
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Barring three out of the 30 Sensex stocks, the public holding in all other companies moved marginally.
Indeed, the movement was less than one per cent on either side. Within those stocks where the public shareholding showed a major movement, Larsen & Toubro witnessed a 2.59 percentage point dip in holding from 31.11 per cent to 28.52 per cent.
In Hero Honda, too, the public holding dropped 1.95 per cent (from 14.84 per cent to 12.89 per cent), in case of Ranbaxy Laboratories it reduced by 1.28 percentage points from 20.73 per cent to 19.45 per cent.
The public holding in Gujarat Ambuja Cement jumped by a fractional 0.31 percentage points, by 0.22 percentage points in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and 0.07 percentage points in Tata Steel.
The public holding in Grasim Industries fell 0.87 percentage points, in Hindalco 0.76 percentage points, in Reliance Industries 0.73 percentage points and in HDFC 0.71 percentage points.
The public holding in fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Lever slipped by 0.12 per cent from 21.25 per cent to 21.13 per cent.
It fell by 0.13 percentage points in information technology majors Infosys Technologies and 0.25 percentage points in Satyam Computer Services.
The public holding jumped substantially in small-cap firms such as Eonour Software, MJP Leasing, Pioneer Overseas Finance, Eltrol, Ecopplast, Savani Financials, Pan Packaging Industries and Mittal Securities.