Alliance Equity Fund

Suresh Krishnamurthy

Alliance Equity Fund's net asset value has increased by 30 per cent during January quarter and March, while its total net assets have increased by 50 per cent, indicating sizeable fresh inflows into the fund during this period. The fund managers have proceeded to invest bulk of these funds and percentage of equity investments, has remained at more than 90 per cent.

Stocks sold: The fund has sold ICICI, KLG Systel, PentaMedia Graphics, Orient Information Technologies, DSQ Software and BFL Software.

Exposures scaled down: AEF has sharply scaled down exposures in Tata Elxsi from 2,00,000 to 1,300 shares. AEF has also pared down holdings by 50 per cent in Gujarat Ambuja. In the case of Larsen and Toubro and Global Tele-Systems, holdings have been pared down by around 10 per cent.

New Stocks: A significant amount of fresh investments have been made in companies that are in the pre-initial public offering stage. Such investments have been made in Cinevista Communications, Shoppers Stop, Magic Software, Magnasound, Mediline Equipment and Cadilla Healthcare. Fresh purchases in listed stocks have been made in ICICI Bank, ATCO Industries, Sterlite Industries, Valiant Communications, Apollo Hospital, Shyam Telecom, MTNL and Bata India.

Exposures have been significantly scaled up in HCL Technologies (298 per cent), Indo Gulf (242), Nalco (142), Mcdowell (138), Hero Honda (127), Infosys (122), Nestle (100), Grasim (62) and Cipla (44). Exposures have also been scaled up, albeit on a lower magnitude, in stocks such as Digital Equipment, Leading Edge, Zee Telefilms, Hindalco, HDFC Bank, HFCL, Dr. Reddy's Labs, SSI and Satyam Computer.

The net asset value of the growth option of the fund stands at Rs. 40.11. Investments can be made at current levels for decent capital appreciation in the medium term.