Friday, April 24, 2009

Markets are waiting for a clear picture on the political front

Indian markets have started looking attractive; fresh inflows are being witnessed from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and markets are rallying upwards. Mahesh Patil, equity co-head, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, while speaking Chirag Madia of The Financial Express, says that once the election results come out on May 16, a clear picture will emerge. He also says that the Indian Mutual Fund (MF) industry is on the path of a gradual recovery post the redemption pressure during October-November last year. Excerpts:


•What are the factors which are leading the domestic market in the current scenario?
Indian markets are following global markets and the liquidity problems that we faced during the last year are slowly getting over. Apart from that, we are growing at a rate of over 5-6% and till now quarterly earnings have also been better than expected.
I think that overall, the condition is improving and that’s the reason we are witnessing and upward rally in domestic markets. I don’t think that there might be much negative news from the quarter’s results which are currently on. There are very low chances that Indian equity bourses will again touch the lows witnessed during the October-November last year. Markets are likely to remain in the range of 8,500-12,000 for the next few weeks.

•Despite the upward rally in Indian markets, there is sense of fear in the mind of investors as a huge amount of profit booking is taking place and investors are waiting for political uncertainties to ease...
Yes, there might be some pauses in the market as general elections results are awaited. We can also say that till before the election results, markets are likely to remain under pressure and there will be clear picture of where we are heading; it will emerge only after the results are declared on May 16. If the Congress-led UPA or BJP-led NDA comes to power, there are chances that markets will run ahead. If the third front takes office, then markets are likely to see some downward corrections.

•Recently, the RBI, in its monetary policy, cut the repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points. Do you think this will have any major impact on the markets?
I think the central bank has taken the right step by slashing the repo and reverse repo rates; there are chances that interest rates will start coming down from here. However, it is essential to point out that it may not have a huge impact on the markets. The markets will wait till results of the elections are announced.

•FIIs are entering the market yet again. Do you see increased inflows from them after the election results are announced?
I think that risk appetite is increasing slowly and FIIs are coming in as they feel that this is the only market that has some future growth prospect. With interest rates going down, they feel this is the right time to invest in the market as well. Apart from that, FIIs are also doing a good amount of profit booking. So, once we have clear picture on political front, we will witness more inflows from FIIs.

•After the tremendous redemption pressure seen by various fund houses last year, the MF industry’s AUM is improving. Despite that, investors are shying away from investing in MF schemes…
The MF industry, in line with the equity indices, has shown some smart recovery.
Gradually, people have realised that we are coming out of the financial crisis. People are waiting for the right time to invest in MFs, and I think this is the right time.

•More and more mutual fund houses are increasing their exposure to large-cap stocks. What are the reasons for this?
Various factors are playing in the minds of fund managers, like corporate governance and most importantly, the liquidity issue. These factors are good in large-cap stocks compared to small-cap stocks. Apart from that, mid-cop stocks have also given some fabulous returns in the past.

•During January and February this year, we witnessed several fund houses holding cash. But, in the last month, they have started deploying the cash in the market. Also, despite, an upward rally in the markets, fund houses are not offering new equity schemes. When do you see new equity schemes flowing in the markets?
Markets have improved in the last one month. So, fund houses think that this is the right time to invest. Now onwards, there might not be much correction in the markets and we feel that, investing at this time might give good returns to investors.
We haven’t seen much inflow in equity schemes, compared to debt schemes. But, I think that we will start witnessing new equity schemes being launched by various fund houses in the coming days. We too are coming out with an equity combined with debt scheme very soon.

DSP BlackRock World Energy Fund looks Sebi's approval

Open ended fund of funds scheme, investing in international fund
DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has filed offer document with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to launch DSP BlackRock World Energy Fund, an open-ended fund of funds scheme, investing in international fund. The face value of the new issue will be Rs 10 per unit.
The primary investment objective of the scheme is to seek capital appreciation by investing predominantly in the units of BlackRock Global Funds – World Energy Fund and BlackRock Global Funds – New Energy Fund. The scheme may, at the discretion of the investment manager, also invest in the units of other similar overseas mutual fund schemes, which may constitute a significant part of its corpus. The scheme may also invest a certain portion of its corpus in money market securities and/or money market/liquid schemes of DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund, in order to meet liquidity requirements from time to time.
Features of the scheme
Investment option: The scheme offers two plans viz. regular and institutional plan with growth and dividend option. The dividend option further offers dividend payout and dividend reinvest facility.
Minimum application amount: The minimum investment amount under regular plan will be Rs 5000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter and under institutional plan will be Rs 5 crore and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.
The scheme seeks to collect a minimum subscription amount of Rs 1 crore during NFO period.
Asset allocation: The scheme will invest 50-100% in units of BlackRock Global Funds (BGF)-World Energy Fund (WEF) or other similar overseas mutual fund scheme(s) with high risk profile. It will invest 0- 30% in units of BlackRock Global Funds (BGF)-New Energy Fund (NEF) or other similar overseas mutual fund scheme(s) with high risk profile (in the shares of BGF – WEF and BGF - NEF, an Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) III fund). It will also invest 0-20% in money market securities and/or units of money market/liquid schemes of DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund with low to medium risk.
Load structure:
Regular Plan:
Entry load: The scheme will levy an entry load of 2.25% for investments less than Rs. 5 crore of the initial value of Rs. 10/- during NFO/applicable NAV during continuous offer. For investments of Rs. 5 crore and above, no entry load will be charged.
No entry load on direct applications, i.e. applications not routed through a distributor/agent/broker.
Exit load: 1% will be the exit load for holding period less than 6 months from the date of allotment. 0.50% exit load for holding period more than 6 months but less than 12 months from the date of allotment. While no exit load will be levied for holding period more than 12 months.
Institutional Plan: There will be no entry load and exit load.
Benchmark index: 70% MSCI World Energy (Net) and 30% MSCI World (Net).
Fund Manager: Aditya Merchant will be fund manager for the scheme.

Fund Action: Jubilant Organsosys; Rolta India; Yes Bank

Jubilant Organsosys: Deutsche Securities buys 19.16 lk shrs at Rs 120/sh.
Rolta India: Ward Ferry Mgmt sells 14.28 lk shrs at Rs 89.90/sh.
Yes Bank: Abhi Ambi Financial Svcs buys 40.9 lk shrs at Rs 82.50/sh.
Indiabulls Securities: Sandstone Cap India Master Fund buys 54.77 lk shrs at Rs 27/sh. Orient Global Cinnamon Cap sells 62.26 lk shrs at Rs 27/sh.Motherson Sumi: Samvardhana Motherson Fin buys 1.92 cr shrs at Rs 81.50/sh. Motherson sells 1.4 cr shrs at Rs 80.50/sh. Renu Sehgal sells 12.05 lk shrs at Rs 83/sh. Laksh Vaaman Sehgal sells 14.40 lk shrs at Rs 85/sh.
Ispat Industries: Jaypee Capital buys 4.08 lk shrs at Rs 13.90/sh.
K Sera Sera: Basmati Securities buys 2.2 lk shrs at Rs 10.35/sh.
Astral Poly: IDFC Mutual Fund 2.58 lk shrs at Rs 51.90/sh.
Parekh Aluminex: AAP Investments buys 3 lk shrs at Rs 56.10/sh. Merrill Lynch sells 3.47 lk shrs at Rs 56/sh.