Mumbai, July 18: Foreign institutional investors, American Depository Receipts holders and banks have increased their holding in the top four domestic pharma firms such as Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s, Nicholas Pirmal and Cipla Ltd. During the quarter ended June 30, the foreign institutional investors have increased their holdings in Ranbaxy from the earlier 22.61 per cent to 24.08 per cent and in NPIL from 2.35 per cent to 3 per cent. In Cipla, the foreign institutions have increased their holding from the earlier 8.26 per cent to around 7 per cent. The ADR holders of Dr Reddy’s Labs have increased their holding in the company by around 2 per cent from 19.32 per cent to 21.48 per cent. However, the foreign institutional investors have reduced their exposure in the company from the earlier 24.15 per cent to 22.73 per cent, during the same quarter. Mr Sameer Narayan, pharma analyst with Enam Securities said: “The growth prospects of all these firms are very strong. Big export potential for generic drugs in the world market has attracted many investors into these firms. Visibility of earnings is also high in these firms ” The domestic banks and financial institutions have also enhanced their holdings in Dr Reddy’s Labs, Cipla and NPIL in Dr Reddy’s the banks and financial institutions have acquired another 1.5 per cent while in Cipla the domestic institutions have increased their holding to 10.22 per cent from the earlier 9.83 per cent. In NPIL, the financial institutions and banks have picked up another 1 per cent during the last quarter.

Meanwhile, the stocks of steel, cement and oil and gas companies were the hot favourites of mutual funds in June. Funds also jumped onto the Maruti IPO wagon last month. Mr Vipul Dalal of IL&FS Investmart said: “Visibility of earnings in the steel, cement and other old economy counters are high as the earnings are expected to grow in the next two quarters. Cement is particularly attractive after the Grasim-L&T deal.”

Mutual Funds also couldn’t resist stocks of companies manufacturing steel and steel products this month, as they made fresh investments in Steel Authority of India Limited, Maharashtra Seamless, PSL, and Jindal Iron & Steel. Steel Authority of India Limited and Maharashtra Seamless were introduced into the Hosing Development and Finance Corporation portfolio, while AllianceCapital purchased PSL and Jisco.

Exposure to Tisco was also enhanced in a big way. Analysts believe that attractive valuations, higher steel prices, and a better product mix are likely to keep steel stocks buzzing for another year.