The worst hit in the first half of 1997-98 were companies like CESC, Century Textiles, Ashok Leyland, ACC, Kesoram. Yet scrips of these companies have shown appreciation in the range of 70 to 100 per cent in the current bull run. In this category, the prominent group A gainers in the rally have been stocks from the steel, paper, cement and auto sector. But the steel and cement companies cannot expect a majorturnaround in their financial performance. The construction activity is yet to pick up. Expectations of sops in the form of anti-dumping in the coming budget has given a big push to steel stocks. The public sector steel monolith, SAIL on a stagnant sales of Rs 6,825 crore reported a sharp drop in net profit of 87 per cent to Rs 48.53 crore. Marketmen, however have pushed the scrip by over 140 per cent in the past one month to over Rs 16.

Tisco and Essar Steel too reported a drop of net profit to the tune of 23 per cent and 134 per cent respectively, but the scrip over the past one month have improved by 39 per cent and 94 per cent respectively.

Paper stocks like ITC Bhadrachalam and Ballarpur have zoomed by over 100 per cent, but the drop in net profit of over 65 per cent to Rs 4.92 crore and Rs 7.62 crore respectively in the first half has been ignored. Paper stocks have partly been riding on the swadeshi wave and expectations of anti-dumping duty coupled with a partial recovery in demand and upwardrevision in price has pushed the stocks of these companies.

Brokers point out that the full year results of some of these companies could disappoint many investors. The extent of the appreciation in scrip prices is largely based on speculation and it's hard to believe that these companies will show excellent results in the full year. They suggest caution and profit-booking to avoid any shocks later.