Even as a major political crises stares the market in the face, fund managers seem to be turning a blind eye and going ahead with their purchases. And that too, at a time when one scandal after the other, at various levels, is rocking the stockmarket. Valuations have come down to such attractive levels that fund managers have arrived at the consensus that these opportunities may not come often.

Forgive and forget
Uncle Sam and the Savvy Fund Manager, two fund managers whose moods have a significant impact on the SSI stock price, are back in action at the counter. Just about 2-3 months back, these players were sore about adequate disclosure norms not having been adhered to by the management. Of course, they were not the only players who had stormed out of the stock. But now that the scrip is available at throwaway valuations, both the players seem have chosen to adopt a forgive and forget policy. Close to three lakh shares are reported to have been picked up over the last couple of trading sessions.

Another stock that seems to be back in favour with institutional players is Aptech. After having hammered down the stock to double digit prices, some of the fund managers now seem to have spotted an opportunity for profits. Once the stock price falls below a certain value, fund managers who earlier accused the company of ignoring shareholders interests, will start pointing to the value in the business and argue that the company is not going to close shop after all. And probably they may be right in thinking that after a round of shock treatment, managements would be more careful in future.

Closely NIIT
Few would have given the NIIT stock to make a strong comeback after the profit warning announced by the company last week. Defying all odds, the under rated scrip has turned out to be the star performer of the week so far. On Wednesday, Kind Words Benson is reported to have mopped up close to 2.5 lakh shares although the identity of the fund could not be ascertained.

On Thursday also there is reported to have been follow up purchases at the counter with around a lakh shares reported to have been picked up. Uncle Sam is reported to be a regular buyer at the Digital Equipments and HCL Technologies counters in small chunks, picking up some on Thursday also.

Trivia
The buying frenzy at the Zee Telefilms counter continues unabated with Cap-It-All reported to be steadily accumulating shares over the last few trading sessions. Even as Cipla is readying for a long drawn battle with Aspen Pharmacare, the largest generics company in South Africa, for a share of the AIDS drugs market, Singapoori Sarkar is confident that Cipla will be able to pull it off.

Among the staunchest follower of the stock, SS reposed its faith in the company through another round of purchases on Thursday, mopping up close to 30,000 shares. Uncle Sam is reported to have used the dip at the BPCL counter on Wednesday to add about 2.5 lakh shares to its portfolio.

Santosh Nairsantoshnair@myiris.com