Players who were predicting the Sensex to test 3400 levels would themselves be surprised at the speed at which it happened. Tuesday was one day that few players will forget in their life time. To withstand a intra-day fluctuation of nearly 950 points does take some courage. Undoubtedly, it now seems to have become a crisis of confidence, something which will take time to blow over. A sudden improvement in sentiment looks least likely although a technical bounceback now seems inevitable.For the patient investor, there could not be a better time to start making purchases. Even from a six month point of view, odds are in favour of being able to make decent returns. But for the trader, life is going to be even tougher in the short term. Already having sold a chunk of his portfolio to cover up trading losses, it is now going to be a battle for survival as the volatility only seems to be intensifying.
Rescue mission
Having said that NIIT is going to be the stock of the decade, the Global Securities is trying its level best to ensure that the scrip suffers minimum damage in the ongoing carnage. The firm is reported to have been one of the active buyers at the counter on Tuesday, which was the lone gainer among Sensex stocks.
Of course, the management seems to have life a little tough for Global Securities by coming out with a profit warning just a week back.
Looking at the way Nasdaq continues to tank, the scrip would have met the same fate as its peers irrespective of the earnings downgrade or no.
Daddy's day out
Even as the most brave-hearted fund managers decided to stay indoors in view of the heavy storm, Big Daddy boldly stepped out to restore some semblance of sanity among panic stricken players. Daddy was aided in his endeavour to some extent by the Life Boat(Insurance) and G-I-See. The three musketeers did rise to the challenge and were almost successful in reversing the sentiment. They are reported to have made aggressive purchases at index based counters. But media reports of a scam involving the defence ministry set the cat among the pigeons and once again there was total chaos. With no end to the bloodbath in sight, most rescue teams decided to stage a retreat.
The Videshi sarkar
Singapoori sarkar too is reported to have made some purchases when the Sensex crashed by about 310 points for the first time during the day. The fund has been a regular buyer across the board over the past few trading sessions. But when panic broke loose for the second time, SS decided to play it safe. On Tuesday, there is reported to have been institutional buying interest at the Bhel and HPCL counters. Merry Lunch brokerage is reported to have been among the active executors on Tuesday.
Santosh Nairsantoshnair@myiris.com
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
