NEW DELHI, May 26: Satyam Computers topped the turnover table on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday. Over one crore shares were traded on both the BSE and NSE, which is over 40 per cent of the Rs 26-crore equity of the company. Market sources say excessive speculation as well as some negotiated buying would have led to such a large turnover on a single day.The Satyam counter saw the highest turnover of Rs 241.68 crore on the BSE, edging out blue chips like Reliance Industries, ITC, SBI etc.Over the last few sessions, Satyam Computers has been topping the list of turnover on the NSE as well.On the BSE, the stock registered a phenomenal volume of 46.85 lakh shares traded in a band of Rs 510 to Rs 532, the intra-day low and high respectively, to finally close at Rs 530, registering a net gain of 3.46 per cent over Monday's close. From an average of 6 to 10 lakhs on the BSE, the volumes have picked up to 38-45 lakh shares a day over the last one week.
The last day of the trading cycle on the NSE,which also coincided with Satyam moving out of the no-delivery phase on the exchange, the stock made a record for the second consecutive day on the bourse by registering a net turnover of Rs 325.70 crore, to close at Rs 522.60 registering a gain of 2.18 per cent.On Monday, Satyam Computers recorded the highest turnover of Rs 401 crore on NSE, followed by ITC (Rs 379.15 crore) and Reliance Industries (Rs 109 crore).
According to market sources, the stock has witnessed a sudden spurt in trading volumes on account of it being moved out of the no-delivery phase on the BSE on May 22, coupled with concentrated level of FII buying at the counter which has been of speculative nature.Satyam posted a net profit of Rs 36.57 crore for the year ended March 31, 1998 on sales of Rs 178 crore.
On an equity capital of Rs 26 crore, the earnings per share (EPS) works out to Rs 14.05. The EPS for the full year discounts the current market price of Rs 511 by a multiple of 36.04. The PE is one of the lowest for softwarescrips. The rally in software scrips which started a year ago saw Satyam rising from Rs 80 in June, 1997 to a recent high of Rs 544, an appreciation of almost 700 per cent return in less than a year.
Infotech all the way
Another prominent feature of the day's session was the activity in the B1 group stocks, where for the first time in the history of the BSE, only infotech stocks emerged as the top traded counters, with a total contribution of over 54 per cent to the total turnover of Rs 65.18 crore recorded in the segment. Among the infotech counters, NIIT touched a new 52-week high of Rs 1,700 before closing at Rs 1,648.50 on the BSE, BFL Software was hammered down and closed 10 per cent lower at Rs 365.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
