NEW DELHI: While you were busy pushing shares of Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Industries to new highs, mutual funds were selling their stakes.Data showed mutual funds trimmed exposure in these two stocks after the recent rally, even as analysts remained upbeat on the companies' growth prospects.HDFC Mutual Fund sold Rs 179 crore worth of RIL shares in July, ICICI Prudential was seen trimming its stake in the company worth Rs 279 crore and Franklin Templeton too sold Rs 92 crore worth of Reliance shares.Overall, MFs sold 3.9 per cent of their RIL holding worth Rs 623 crore to 7.5 crore shares as of July 31. The institutional category held 7.88 crore shares in RIL as of June 30.Maruti Suzuki too saw MFs selling Rs 258 crore worth of shares. Strong sales data month after month despite GST hiccups may be the reason behind euphoria among investors. Reliance Industries and Maruti Suzuki have rallied 56 per cent each in last one year.Maruti hit an all-time high of Rs 7,920 on August 1. We rate Marti an ‘Accumulate’,” the brokerage said.The brokerages are also bullish on Reliance Industies.The company reported strong June quarter numbers, with gross refining margin at $11.9 per barrel, which was the highest since September 2009, while petrochem EBIT ( earnings before income and taxes) margin at 16.5 per cent was the highest since September 2010.

Source: Economic Times August 27, 2017 06:45 UTC