MC Inside Edge: Windsor Machines gains Pace, Midcap Mugul loads up on Zee, Silent’s HDFC Bank bet paying off for now

Know all the major deals and all the inner goings-on from Dalal Street.

Wind in the sails

Shares of Windsor Machines have been seeing unusually high activity over the past couple of weeks. The stock is already up 142 percent in less than a month, thanks to it catching the fancy of some market heavyweights from Mumbai and Delhi. Last week, a trading firm associated with two influential brothers in the Delhi investment circles picked up a sizeable chunk through a bulk deal. One of the brothers is bearish on the market and in a recent media interview has predicted a 20 percent correction over the next 10 months. Back in Mumbai, the honey-tongued fund manager turned ultra-high networth individual too is said to be taking an interest in the stock.

Tuning in

Some last minute purchases are being heard in Zee's shares before its derivatives go out of the NSE’s F&O list from Thursday. The Midcap Mugul and the Calculator Fund are said to have accumulated a tidy pile over the past few weeks. The market appears to have given up all hopes of a stake sale in the company, but looks like some players are still convinced about the story.

Payback time

The Silent Investor finally has reason to smile now that HDFC Bank shares are on the rise. Silent was among the handful of market veterans who clung on to their positions in the stock, hopeful that other investors would eventually come around. Question is whether the stock is poised for a rerating or if the recent upmove has more to do with index management, where some players are trying to mask the weakness in second line shares by pushing up the index.

Silent’s other big bet is Indus Towers. More on that later.

Don’t worry, be passive

Good returns and not having to depend on anyone to actively manage investments is apparently one of the key reasons for the surge in inflows into index funds. Some industry experts told Moneycontrol that many family offices have taken a shine to index funds with as much as a third of their funds going into these funds.