Mutual Funds Increase Tech Stocks Exposure

Kolkata: Technology stocks are calling the shots in the realm of mutual funds. Fund managers have been stepping on the gas when it comes to increasing their exposure to the tech sector, a trend that seems to be taking a firmer shape at this juncture. Allocations to technology by diversified equity funds have generally increased in the last few months, culminating in the quarter ending March 31, 2007, compared to the allocation figures pertaining to the end of the last calendar year. These, MF circles generally suggest, have resulted in an improvement in the business dynamics of tech companies and advances registered by them in terms of topline and bottomline growth. Fund circles point out in this context that tech funds, which have given about 30 per cent for the one-year period ending April 18, 2007, have come up exceptionally well, beating all other categories during the period.
A list worked out by distribution firm Plexus Management indicates that some of the most commonly held counters are such heavyweights as Infosys, TCS, Satyam and Wipro. Most fund managers have infused in these in varying degrees. Included in this list are the likes of Subex, Tulip IT, Tech Mahindra, I-flex and Mphasis BFL. Those that scaled up tech holdings between December 31, 2006, and March 31, 2007, include JM MF, which has doubled exposure from 6.08 per cent of net assets to 12.11 per cent, according to data provided by Value Research. Some of the others are: ABN AMRO (from 18.85 per cent to 27.78 per cent), Morgan Stanley (from 20.67 per cent to 25.03 per cent), UTI (from 16.28 per cent to 19.3 per cent), Tata (from 17.38 per cent to 20.73 per cent) and Franklin Templeton (from 15.84 per cent to 19.59 per cent).