A week of selective buying

It was a dismal week for the markets and for SmartPortfolios. The benchmark BSE 200 index shed nearly 8 per cent to 1,044, and is now down a whopping 41 per cent since the inception of SmartPortfolios on September 1, 2008. Hence, a sum of Rs 10 lakh invested in the benchmark at the start is now valued at Rs 5.86 lakh.

Similarly, our four fund managers who started with the same (Rs 10 lakh) corpus have seen a drop in their invested capital, albeit far lesser in comparison with the benchmark. Losses of our fund managers, barring those of Amar Ambani’s, vary in the 11 to 16 per cent range. Last week, too, while the benchmark dropped nearly 8 per cent, their portfolios saw a maximum depreciation of close to 4 per cent.
Fund manager were seen buying selectively as trading activity was mainly on the buy side. There were 10 purchase transactions out of a total of 16 trades executed last week. Cumulatively, fund managers bought shares worth Rs 1.75 lakh while they sold stocks worth Rs 1.51 lakh.

WAITING GAME
AMAR AMBANI
Vice President (Research), India Infoline
Amar Ambani preferred to stay on the sidelines last week even as the other fund managers bought stocks in a falling market. Ambani since the start of SmartPortfolios continues to maintain an extremely high ratio (95.4 per cent) of his investments in cash.
At the end of the week, Ambani holds Rs 9.47 lakh in cash, and the two stocks (Sun Pharma & Reliance Communications) in his portfolio are valued at just Rs 0.46 lakh. His net worth now stands at Rs 9.93 lakh, down only 0.7 per cent since the start of SmartPortfolios.

DEPLOYING CASH
SADANAND SHETTY
Vice President, Kotak Securities
Sadanand Shetty executed three trades last week, all on the buy side, wherein he bought shares worth Rs 0.55 lakh. Off the three trades, Maruti was the only addition to his portfolio, while he averaged his holdings in Sun Pharma and Nicholas. Heavyweights Reliance and SBI are the two stocks among his top three picks.
-Shetty's net worth now stands at Rs 8.87 lakh, of which Rs 2.95 lakh is invested in stocks, and the balance Rs 5.92 lakh is cash. Shetty's returns till date is a negative 11.3 per cent.

MIXED ACTION
ANAND AGARWAL
Fund Manager, Reliance Money
Anand Agarwal was the most active fund manager last week with 12 trades out of 16. Of the 12 trades, he had six trades each on the buy and sell sides. However, his total sales exceeded his purchases by Rs 0.31 lakh. Agarwal bought stocks worth Rs 1.19 lakh, and sold equity worth Rs 1.50 lakh.
While he booked gains of 17 per cent and 14 per cent on his investment in HDIL and Reliance Communications, he booked losses of 6 per cent and 3 per cent each on his investments in Jet Airways and Axis Bank. At the end of the week, Agarwal's net worth now stands at Rs 8.43 lakh, with net returns down 15.7 per cent. He holds Rs 6.67 lakh in cash.

CAUTION PREVAILS
KASHYAP PUJARA
Fund Manager, ENAM Direct
Kashyap Pujara, too, remained mostly on the sidelines barring the single trade where he bought 100 shares of Bank of Baroda. Pujara has invested more than 5 per cent of his total invested capital in this stock.
Banking giant SBI has the maximum (8.8 per cent) weightage in his portfolio. Pujara's net worth stands at Rs 8.36 lakh, of which Rs 2.95 lakh is invested in equity and the balance Rs 5.41 lakh is cash.