FIIs think Indo-Pak series will have market impact

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are as much concerned about Shoaib Akhtar's bowling and Sachin Tendulkar's batting records as India Inc's return on equity (RoE) and earning per share (EPS).

Yes, the FIIs feel that the forthcoming Indo-Pak series "" to commence on March 13 after a gap of nearly one and a half decade "" will have a bearing on the future course of relationship between the two neighbors and their markets.

"Frankly, we have one eye on cricket and another on elections. Both will have impact on the markets. Now that the ONGC public offering is fully subscribed, the market is cured of the PSU issue hangover. We will now watch the cricket matches," said a source with a leading FII with over $1 billion exposure to Indian companies.

If the sources are to be believed, their analysts who track different sectors and companies are now taking a closer look at the strike rates of batsmen in one-day games and average run per over given by the bowlers.

"It's not funny, you know. We seriously believe that the series will influence the relationship between the two countries. It may even have a bearing on the outcome of elections," said another fund manager.

Even though it may sound a bit far-fetched, some of the big investors in the domestic market are consulting cricket experts to get a hang of the developments.

"If India wins the series, it may deal a blow to the relationship. What we feel that if Pakistan loses, it will be difficult for the government there to convince the people to stretch a hand of friendship to India. If that happens, certainly it will influence the markets," said another FII source.

The teams will play a politically correct game if they look for a draw, feel most of the fund managers. This can be done because technically India "" with its depleted bowling strength "" is not capable of bowling the Pakistani batters out twice in a test match. Conversely, Indian batting is too strong on paper and can take on the Pak fast bowlers.

"There are enough excuses to draw the series if the two teams want that way. Or, it can also happen that one team wins the one-day series and another the test series to share the honours. If that happens, we will have a sigh of relief," said an analyst with a foreign brokerage.

After cricket, it will be elections and the FIIs will get busy getting their mathematics right on the election turf. But till then, they will keep glued to the Ten Sports screen watching cricket and the BSE Sensex.