Street signs: Domestic institutions book profits in March

The tide of portfolio investments has turned in March, as domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turn net sellers after being buyers for six straight months. DIIs sold shares worth Rs 8,758 crore in March. At the same time, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been net buyers of Rs 21,234 crore this month. Market players say since the financial year is coming to an end, DIIs, especially insurers, are selling to strengthen their profit and loss accounts. FIIs sold aggressively in the last quarter of the year for the same reason. DIIs were net buyers in those months.

Joydeep Ghosh

Shankara Building sold as ‘D-Mart’ of home improvement

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Shankara Building Products managed to garner healthy subscription of 40 times last week. Sources say the issue was marketed to investors as the ‘D-Mart’ of home building products. “Both D-Mart and Shankara represent the future emerging models of the retail sector,” said one of the notes circulated to investors by brokers. However, while piggybacking on D-Mart’s success might have yielded good subscription, the listing is unlikely to be as spectacular. The stock could list around 20 per cent higher if grey market premiums are anything to go by.

Pavan Burugula

New hope for fund industry

With new Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi taking charge this month, the chatter around the possibility of a reduction in total expense ratio and abolition of incentives for beyond The top 15 cities has died down within the mutual fund sector. Two months ago, the regulator’s advisory board had advised that transition from a commission-based to a fee-based model be done gradually. With a plethora of reforms and regulatory changes already effected during previous Sebi chairman U K Sinha’s tenure, mutual fund officials are hoping the new chairman will go a bit easy on the sector.                         

Ashley Coutinho