Sebi probes portfolio services of leading fund houses

Portfolio management services (PMS) of some major fund houses have come under the scanner of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Sectoral sources said the regulator's enquiry started after it was discovered that some of these PMS had not truly customised each investor's portfolio and were using the same model portfolio across all investors. According to Sebi guidelines, the portfolio manager shall purchase or sell securities separately for each client and also segregate each clients' funds and portfolio of securities and keep them separate. Sectoral people expect the enquiry to be a precursor to fresh guidelines on the PMS business.

Joydeep Ghosh

Huge market swing on the cards?
The National Stock Exchange's 50-share benchmark Nifty, in the just-concluded derivative series, moved in a tight band of 2.5 per cent - one of the narrowest range (difference between high and low) for the index in its trading history. Not only the domestic markets but global markets, too, have remained more or less flat. Historically, after trading in a narrow band, markets see a huge swing in the subsequent month. "An observation of the range in past 10 lowest months indicates that the next month's average range is 11 per cent," says Edelweiss. Interestingly, the September derivative series spans across 35 days. So, tighten your belts.

Samie Modak

SBI takes contra call on Max Financial
SBI Mutual Fund, the country's fifth largest fund house, has taken a contrarian call on Max Financial Services in July. At a time, when mutual fund managers sold about 18 million shares of Max Financial Services worth Rs 1,050 crore, the most-sold stock by fund managers in July, SBI MF's schemes bought shares worth Rs 175 crore. According to sectoral players, the average price at which fund managers sold the stock was around Rs 579 a share. On Friday, Max Financial Services closed at Rs 548.05.

Chandan Kishore Kant