MUMBAI, April 28: The auction conducted on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on April 27 to bridge the shortfalls reported for the settlement ended April 17 has brought to light the speculative nature of the current bull run witnessed on the bourse.Stocks which hogged the limelight during the week ended April 17 have recorded chunks of auction volumes, signifying the presence of short positions which were not squared on account of a steady rise in the stock prices.
As per the data collated by the BSE, chunks of Essar Steel, Garware Polyester, Herdillia Industries, Motorol Industries, Bank of India, IDBI, ICICI, LML, Pentafour Software, Raymond, Satyam Computers, SBI, Tisco and United Phosphorus shares were offered at the auction conducted on the bourse at a premium of over 2-5 per cent on an average.
Interestingly, some of these stocks which witnessed auction volumes of over 5,000 shares belonged to the non-specified category of the exchange where carryforward is not permitted. Huge auction volumes werealso recorded in the shares of banks and financial institutions.
SBI accounted for an auction volume of 14,550 shares, and the bears were trapped at the price of over Rs 304 at which the auction was conducted.Similarly, IDBI accounted for a huge auction volume of 4,800 shares, ICICI 7,950 shares and Bank of India 4,900 shares.
According to insiders, the auction session saw the stocks sell at higher premiums in terms of their closing prices recorded on the BSE on April 27.``Bears were trapped unawares when the stock market indices appreciated despite technical analysts pressing hard on the need for a correction in the index,'' said a BSE broker.
Another counter which caught the fancy of punters on rumours of purchases by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and expectations of an excellent performance in fiscal 1997-98 was Satyam Computers.
The counter witnessed a phenomenal auction volume of 21,200 shares which, according to dealers, was conducted at a premium of over Rs 465 when the current marketprice was ruling in the band of Rs 449.
A different story was however attributed for the rising auction volumes in the units of UTI listed on the exchange, where the lack of transparency in institutional trades was attributed as the primary reason for the discrepancy in the registered transactions and the units submitted to the clearing house on the payin day.
UTI Master Plus '91 accounted for an auction volume of 5,900 shares, while UTI Master Gain accounted for about 3,300 shares. UTI Master Growth witnessed an auction volume of 2,100 shares and UTI MEP '95 saw an auction volume of 1,000 shares.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
