As benchmark indices are steadily heading north, with some signs of fatigue, the number of pre-Budget stories seems to be dwindling fast. Almost every sector had its share of the sun, over the past few days. While the market has been showing a good breadth and depth over the past few weeks, most broking houses are not goading their clients to go in for further purchases. Of course, there may be the occasional stock that has managed to escape notice so far. But on the whole, everybody seems to be advocating caution.The ball is now in the court of market-makers, who have seen a marked improvement in their liquidity positions. Rather than run the risk of inviting profit-taking at topline counters, the safest bet would be the secondline counters, with minimum institutional interference.
Cap(ex) plans?
It is sheer coincidence, but the last time round Reliance Industries crossed the Rs 400-mark, Cap-It-All was present at the counter. This time too, Cap is believed to the major driving force behind the rally at the counter. On Friday, Cap reportedly picked up close to two million shares. And it did not matter that Big Daddy was one of the biggest sellers on the same day. On Monday, there were enquiries floating at the counter, but the exact quantum of purchases is yet to be confirmed. The Rs 400-mark is being viewed as a very crucial level for the stock. While there are fund managers still waiting to get into the counter, there is an equal number of early birds on the other side of the fence. From current levels, everyone would want to wait for somebody else to take the initiative before diving headlong.
Livelier Lever
If the BSE Sensex has been able to hold steady above the 4,400-mark, it has been largely due to the participation from HLL, which had been playing truant so far. Apart from Reliance, Cap has also been aggressively mopping up shares of index heavyweight HLL. On Friday, the fund was reported to have added 1.5 million shares to its kitty while Monday's prices did indicate some follow-up interest. One can never say if market-makers too have entered the fray, now that all kinds of rumours are flying thick and fast.
The first rumour is that Unilever was looking to increase its stake through a creeping acquisition, the other one is of annual earnings numbers surpassing analyst estimates; yet another one is that of the company announcing some acquisitions. Few analysts expect the company to show a growth in excess of 6-8 per cent, while most expect the rate to be in the region of 3-5 per cent.
Trivia
Even as Cap-It-All is busy offloading Bank of Baroda shares, the scrip is finding takers. The fund offloaded close to 1.3 million shares on Friday, the bulk of which were absorbed by Coat Hari Mutual Fund. Monday's sales also seem to have been matched by equal buying interest.
The Numero Uno brokerage is reportedly accumulating shares of Cummins, while the Prudent Fund is said to have sold close to 2.5 lakh shares of Satyam. Bargain hunters helped prop up the ITC scrip above Rs 800 levels, with Skroedder tipped to be one of the buyers. Dosih Green Fall has reportedly booked profits at the M&M counter which witnessed sharp volatility after some confusion over the filing of the MBT offer-document. But the bounce-back seems to indicate that the story is far from over.
Santosh Nair
santoshnair@myiris.com
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
