LIC on selling spree

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is said to be on a selling mode, even as the market has been hitting new highs. The heavy selling is the reason behind Domestic Institutional Investor (DII) figures showing net sales, though mutual funds are raising and deploying capital through a record number of new fund offers in 2014. The insurance behemoth is apparently building its cash pile ahead of the government's divestment programme. LIC did not respond to a request for comment.

Chandan Kishore Kant

Cement stocks on solid base
Cement stocks are back in vogue. Brokers see it as one of the few sectors where input cost is falling, due to lower crude oil and coal prices and the demand situation is improving, giving pricing power to companies. Fund houses have already started buying mid-cap cement stocks. Last week, India Capital Fund bought Mangalam Cement and HDFC Mutual Fund has bought ITD Cementation. Market players see more juice left in these stocks. India has already entered a peak construction phase and dealers indicate there are intimations of price hikes by several companies.

Rajesh Bhayani

BSE Brokers' Forum eyes bigger GIFT City pie
The BSE Brokers' Forum hopes to expand its presence in the global financial services hub being set up in Gujarat - Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT). Already owners of 300,000 sq ft in GIFT city, it is hoping to add an additional 200,000 sq ft to it, to meet the demand from brokers looking to expand their presence in the region. The forum is expected to make a request for the additional space soon. Forum members said many large and small brokers were hoping to shift their back-end infrastructure to the new office space once it is ready.

Sneha Padiyath