NEW DELHI, Jan 6: The denial of bonus rumours by Hindustan Lever could mean a correction in the counter on Thursday, feel brokers. On Wednesday, the Sensex rally was driven mainly by HLL on the back of rumours of a likely bonus from the company. Close on the heels of Castrol, the market expected a liberal bonus from Hindustan Lever, which propelled the stock by around Rs 122 to hover around the Rs 1800 mark and lifting the Sensex by around 56 points during the intra-day trades.The denial by the company around 3.00 PM led to a Rs 40 drop in the HLL stock price, which closed the day at Rs 1757. A BSE broker felt that a technical correction is due and the denial by Hindustan Lever of any bonus intentions could lead to a temporary correction in the next few sessions.
Even during trading hours not all were convinced of a bonus. Although HLL is sitting on a huge reserve pile of Rs 1061 crore, which is almost 5 times the current equity of Rs 200 crore, the company has not been too liberal with bonus in thepast. In the last 10 years, the company has capitalised its reserves only once in 1991 in the ratio of 1:2.
Apart from HLL, ITC and Bhel were the other major outperformers on Wednesday.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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