Construction, banking top FII buy list

Foreign institutional investors (FII) have raised their holding in 540 companies out of top 1,000 companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) during September-March (2006-07) period. They have trimmed their holdings in 360 companies, while the remainder have seen no change in foreign holding. Among the top 500 companies, FIIs have reduced their stake in 178 companies.

There is no clear sectoral trend, companies that have gained favour with foreign investors are mostly from construction and banking. Second-line IT companies too were on the FII buy list during the half year under consideration. That view may have changed following the recent appreciation in the rupee, which is likely to hurt the margins of most IT companies, brokers say. Most pharmaceutical companies saw a decline in FII shareholding.

Among the top hundred stocks that saw major decrease in FII holding are Punj Lloyd (5.51 per cent), Indian Petrochemicals (5.33 per cent), Bharat Forge (4.59 per cent), Tata Steel (4.1 per cent), Tata Motors (3.8 per cent), I-flex (3.6 per cent), Ambuja Cements (3.6 per cent), Infosys (3.6 per cent) and Siemens (3.6 per cent). However, United Spirits (19.6 per cent), Jai Prakash Associates (6.3 per cent), BF Utilities (7.6 per cent), Glenmark (5.2 per cent) and Grasim (3.6 per cent) saw an increase.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Grasim plans 30 new outlets by year-end

Apparel manufacturer Grasim Industries is planning to increase its exclusive brand outlets to 75 from the existing 45 by the end of this year, as the company eyes to capture a significant share in the domestic textile market.The company plans to extend the brand to all parts of the country and would penetrate Tier-I and Tier-II cities through these exclusive outlets.

The company had recently increased its garment manufacturing capacity to 18 million tonnes per annum from 15 million tonnes and would adopt international production
measures to suit international markets.

Grasim on Thursday appointed Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as its brand ambassador and will come up with a TV commercial featuring the star by July-August.

Speaking on the global textile industry, Krishnamoorthy Grasim Industries President and Unit Head said, Indian garment market is expected to have a 15 per cent share in the global market by 2010 from the present 3-4 per cent.