The cement king
One of the early birds at cement counters, the e-NAME brokerage still continues to hold a very bullish view on the sector. The firm is reported to be concentrating its energies at the Grasim Industries counter which has been on the move of late. Interestingly, e-NAME has been able to sustain the momentum at the counter despite profit booking by various institutional players. Close to 7 lakh shares are reported to have been sold by an unconfirmed Asian Fund over the past three trading sessions, while the Cane Bank Off Shore Fund too is reported to have booked profits to the tune of about 50,000 shares on Wednesday. The notable buyer at the counter recently has been Tumble Ton, which picked up about 4 lakh shares at Rs 295 levels.

Change in strategy?
The first signs of portfolio churning at Uncle Sam is now becoming evident following the recent change of guard. Never a fan of HLL in the past, Uncle Sam is reported to have picked up close to 3 million shares between Tuesday and Wednesday. Of this, a little over 1.5 million shares were picked up on Wednesday and that too at a premium to the prevailing market price.

Incidentally, Vinod Sethi, the former investment head, was staunchly opposed to the stock, on grounds that it was over valued. Mr Vinod's successor, Ruchir Sharma, an economist by background, is considered as a conservative by nature by the market watchers. At the same time he is also seen as flexible fund manager, a virtue very crucial for survival in the fast changing world of equity markets. Invariably, whenever there are new additions, they come at the expense of some of the veterans in the portfolio.

Armed intrusion
One Man Army is reported to have stepped up its operations at the Reliance Industries counter over the past few trading sessions. The last time One Man has taken a fancy to the scrip about six months back, he had built up positions to the tune of nearly 1 crore shares. Of course, he managed to pull off a disappearing act at the counter even before market could get wind of it.

Tug of war
Meanwhile, the One Man Army camp is reported to have been responsible for the damage caused at the Digital Equipment counter. There are reported to have crossed swords with a rival group which has been maintaining a bullish view on the same stock. The stock did witness some institutional buying interest over the past few days. The outcome of this tussle needs to be closely watched. Will fundamentals prevail or technicals? Watch this space for more details.

Santosh Nairemail:santoshnair@myiris.com