Castro fund pumped up on Jain Irrigation

STREET SIGNS

Castro fund's fascination with the Jain Irrigation stock continues.

In mid-September, the fund had bought some four lakh shares of the stock at Rs 172 levels.

However, since then, the stock price declined, which would have put off most prospective buyers. But Castro believes in the long term story and again made some purchases at the counter.

The fund's interest in the stock has stemmed from the fact that the company board had recently approved the merger of Terra Agro Technologies Ltd, an unlisted Indian company engaged in the business of cultivation and dehydration of vegetables for exports.

Jain Irrigation intends to use the Terra Agro base in South India to produce and promote its agriculture products like drip, sprinkler, PVC pipes, TC banana, etc.

There are enough domestic analysts who are excited by the potential of the stock. According to one, the opportunity in the agriculture sector is ripe for conversion and Jain Irrigation's business model is suitably placed to capitalise on that opportunity.

SRF tumbles
Desi, Tumble Ton fund has decided to press the 'sell' button at the SRF Ltd. counter.

The fund sold some five lakh shares of SRF at Rs 308 levels. Since touching Rs 343 levels on September 20, 2005, the stock has been on a decline, which must have put the seeds of doubt in Tumble Ton's mind.

Not even the potential of SRF to generate substantial revenues from the sale of carbon credits, which had given a stock a shot in the arm in recent months, seems to convince Tumble Ton.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, industries in developed countries can offset their carbon dioxide emissions by buying carbon credits from projects that cut emissions in developing countries. In early September, SRF entered into a deal to sell 500,000 carbon credits to a unit of Royal Dutchhell.

A fund favourite
There has been plenty of buying interest at the Murudeshwar Ceramics counter of late. The latest to get into the counter is Reliable Fund who bought 1.5 lakh shares of at Rs 119 levels.

In late September, another desi, Lion Fund had bought the stock at Rs 126 levels. Murudeshwar Ceramics is in the business of ceramic tiles and posted a net profit of Rs 5.48 crore for the June quarter.

Analysts have noted that the company's business is bound to do well from the ongoing boom in the real estate business and the higher demand for housing witnessed of late.

Higher demand has obviously translated into a similar uptake in consumption of vitrified tiles in flooring, which is Murudeshwar Ceramics' speciality. Apart from Reliable Fund and Lion Fund, Bye Bye Group had also bought more than a lakh of shares at Rs 101 levels, some time back.

In other news...
Prized One brokerage was a buyer at the Helios & Matheson Information Technology counter at Rs 390 levels, while one Mauritius-based fund was a seller at the Aftek Infosys counter at Rs 111 levels.