INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SBI Mutual Fund put in big bets on healthcare, oil - gas and telecom sectors in January
The asset manager lapped up shares of Bharti Airtel, Narayana Hrudayalay, ONGC and IndiaOil with both hands, besides others.
The fund house
house bought 1.43 crore shares of Bharti Airtel, which emerged the second biggest gainer among Nifty stocks for the month, rising 8.91 per
The stock is up 18 per cent year to date and 89 per cent in last one year.
Bharti Airtel stands to be one of the biggest beneficiaries if
rival Vodafone Idea falls
Voda Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has warned that closure of the telco is a strong possibility due to the financial distress it is in
thanks to the massive statutory dues
The former recently raised $3 billion to clear the dues.
Over 20 analysts, who track Airtel, are bullish on the stock, Reuters data showed
ICICIdirect sees the stock at Rs 630 in one year.
The fund house also purchased 65 lakh shares of healthcare services provider Narayana
It has the target price set at Rs 430, meaning a 22 per cent upside from last close
SBI MF also continued to load up on select PSU stocks in January, a practice observed in the past two months
The fund manager bought 64 lakh shares of IndianOil, 57 lakh shares of ONGC, 40 lakh shares of Bank of Baroda and 29 lakh shares of SBI from
the PSU pack, according to data available on corporate database Ace Equity.
PSU companies are among the largest dividend-paying companies
and with the rule change that will tax dividend in the hands of shareholders, many of these stocks are expected to pay dividend earlier than
usual to beat the new tax threshold.
The largest equity fund manager of the country also picked up substantial numbers of shares of Reliance
Industries and HDFC Bank, both of which reported record quarterly profits for December quarter
It added 6.4 lakh shares of the former and 12 lakh shares of the latter
Interestingly, HDFC Asset Management Company sold HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries in heaps during the month.
Market veteran Shankar
Sharma says the prospects of large companies will continue to be bright
But large companies because of the economic distress are going to keep becoming larger at the expense of the second, third, fourth, fifth
generation company NHPC during the month and 10-30 lakh shares of HUDCO, Gateway Distriparks, Marico, PNC Infratech, Power Grid, Tata Motors
and Zee Entertainment, among others.
Some of the buying and selling in shares mentioned above might have been done by passively-managed
index funds.
January saw a jump in inflows into domestic equity funds
Net inflows, which stood at Rs 4,499.39 crore in December, surged to Rs 7,877.40 crore in January, making the highest levels since August
Inflows into midcap and smallcap funds picked up in January, with net inflows of Rs 1,798.16 crore and 1,072 crore, respectively, as the
rally in broader markets lifted investor sentiment.
SBI MF toppled HDFC AMC as the largest fund house in the country in January