According to the fund manager, in tune with the improved outlook, prominent shares like Telco and Ashok Leyland have gone up substantially from their lows. ``There are smaller companies with strong fundamentals whose shares are available at low levels inspite of their track record of generating wealth for shareholders,'' he adds. As on January 29, MRF constitutes 2.45 per cent of the total portfolio.

Subsequent to the rally in January, the NAV of Prima has moved up from Rs 11.94 in December to Rs 13.67. As a result, corpus of the fund has improved from Rs 14.61 crore on December 31 to Rs 16.27 crore on January 29. The fund is currently fully invested in equities (99.34 per cent).

Besides, Prima Fund has bought Fulford India, thereby adding to its holdings in the pharmasector. The fund has also bought ITC Agrotech and expects the company to emerge as a major FMCG player.

IT sector continues to lead the pack with a portfolio weight of more than 27 per cent. The fund has generated a one-year return of 53 per cent against a 13.38 per cent rise in S&P CNX 500.

Bluechip, the other equity fund from Kothari Pioneer, has bought stocks of fundamentally sound companies of core sectors like BSES, BPCL, Cochin Refineries, MTNL and SBI. According to the fund manager, while shares of select sectors have been going up, high quality stocks of out-of-favour sectors like power, oil, telecom and banking have been going down. The fund has, however, sold Bajaj Auto as the fund manager has concerns on the company's growth prospects. The fund's assets under the management have gone up from Rs 10.90 crore to Rs 11.77 crore with the NAV of the fund moving up from Rs 18.51 to Rs 20.75. IT continues to enjoy the top weight with its share going up from 26 to 32 per cent.

Assets under Primaplushave seen a jump by Rs 10 crore to Rs 84 crore in a month. This is attributed to the rise in the fund's NAV from Rs 9.96 to Rs 11.75, a rise of 18 per cent.

On the debt front, the fund manager expects the government to close the current year with a substantially higher than projected deficit. This is likely to diminish any chances of fall in interest rates. However, with low inflation and low demand for funds, interest rates have remained placid. ``In this scenario, the budget will be a major factor determining the interest rates,'' he adds.

In Income Builder, the corpus has gone up from Rs 50 crore to Rs 64 crore. The fund has seen substantial inflows and has invested a bulk in short-term securities. This has reduced the average maturity of the fund to 1.21 years. ``Long-term instruments are not giving premium returns to justify their added risk,'' says the fund manager. The fund has added debentures of L&T and ACC this month.