L & T Hogs The Limelight

Yesterday's rally in the absence of any major institutional buying interest has little cause for cheer. Net outstanding position on the BSE is currently around Rs 3,500 crore; certainly not a comforting figure. While players may say that prices too have gone up sharply, one needs to see how many of the players will actually be able to hold on to their positions till the foreign funds come to make purchases.

Purely going by this year's performance, it is clear that foreign funds have now mastered the art of investing in India. No longer can they be expected to come rushing in and buy stocks at higher levels. A cursory glance at the outstanding position clearly shows that local players are over stretched at the moment. Fund managers could easily play the waiting game before coming in to invest. And it is not as if they have to compulsorily make all their portfolio allocations in January itself, contrary to what some of the local players might think.

Time to move

Uncle Sam's brand value seems to be attracting more players to the Titan counter rather than Titan's own brand value. It may be recalled that Uncle Sam had recently announced that it had picked up a little over 5 per cent of the company's equity. Accordi