Mumbai, Sept 21: Led by Infosys, the bull run in information technology stocks continued for the third day in succession. In the other IT counters, the story was no different - stocks like NIIT, Digital Equipment, Wipro and Silverline Industries closed within striking distance of their upper band. However, with core sector stocks lacklustre, the Sensex closed marginally lower at 4633 points against Monday's close of 4641 points. The NSE, with a turnover of Rs 2980 crore, ended with a loss of 7.25 points and declines outnumbered advances with a huge margin of 837:325.Amidst all the brouhaha surrounding IT stocks, Zee Telefilms has also been a star performer in a lacklustre market. The spurt in the stock follows news of the stock split into lower denominations. The company informed BSE that its board will meet on September 27 to consider the stock split. The market expects a stock split of 1:5. On the National Stock Exchange, the Zee stock closed at Rs 4217, up 7 per cent from Monday's close of 3940. Thescrip topped the turnover chart with a value of Rs 368 crore. ``We are looking at a price of Rs 5000 in the Zee counter before the stock split. Post-spilt, the price will hover around Rs 1000,'' said a participant. The stock is up 43 per cent in just 10 trading sessions.
On the NSE, as many as 10 information technology scrips figured in the top 25 securities and the their combined turnover of Rs 1019 crore was nearly 34 per cent of the total turnover of Rs 2,980 crore on the bourse.
According to brokers and fund managers, there has been a perceptible shift from core sector to information technology stocks in the past few sessions. ``In the past few days, we have seen hardly any selling or buying by FIIs - there were net sales of 9 crore on Friday and net buying on Rs 1 crore on Monday. FIIs have been booking profits on core sector stocks and shifting to information technology stocks,'' said VVLN Sastry at Khandwala Securities. ``With a burgeoning oil pool deficit, the new government at the Centre willhave to immediately go for a hike in oil prices. This, in turn, will have a spiralling impact on various sectors of the economy and impact the recovery which has come so far. Hence, we are beginning to see a shift to defensive stocks,'' added Aspi T Contractor at Tata Asset Management.
However, a section of the market recommends a very short-term buy in cyclical stocks till the time a new government takes charge. ``The markets are likely to be euphoric till the time a new government takes charge. The investors will get an opportunity to exit then,'' says Chirag Sanghvi at Asit C Mehta Invest Intermediaries.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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