After, while one Laxman has extricated the team from a difficult situation and almost staved off defeat, the other Laxman has put the central government on a sticky wicket. If the Vajpayee government manages to negotiate the opposition's googlies and bouncers successfully, the bulls can easily pile up a big score for the Sensex. FIIs have already laid the foundation for that through their aggressive purchases over the last few days.

Numerospeak
The Numero Uno brokerage's spirited defence of the HFCL scrip seems to be finding takers although the stock prices do not yet reflect it. The counter continued to be in a state of coma though it did stir for a brief while. Numero still has some concerns about HFCL's exposure to the services side of the telecom business.

Then there is also the duty reduction for telecom transmission equipments, which will affect HFCL's cost competitiveness. By Numero's estimates, growth rates for the company is expected to fall very sharply in the coming fiscal on a comparative basis.

But at the same time, it feels that after a 78 per cent fall in prices since the beginning of this calendar year, valuations are too compelling to be ignored. Its recommendation of a long term buy was readily accepted by one of its clients who bought 1.5 million shares on Wednesday even as the prices remained subdued. A bulk of it is reported to be on behalf of the Savvy Fund Manager who seems to be gearing up for a second innings at the counter.

Join the crowd
If you cannot beat them, join them, goes the saying. And after seeing that the ITC stock is holding up amidst the flood of negative news, the Savvy Fund Manager is reported to have reversed his view on the scrip and started covering up his sales made at higher levels. He is also reported to be evincing interest at the SSI and Larsen counters. Singapoori Sarkar is reported to have turned bullish on HLL, along with the Golden Socks Fund, even as Stitcher is busy booking profits.

Close to 1.5 million shares of Bhel is reported to have been picked up on Wednesday, with Bihari (Patnam) fund tipped as one of the prominent buyers.

Guess who?
Every fund manager who dabbled at the Satyam Computer counter during the last three months has, more often than not, emerged with a bruised chin. But that has not deterred the Jane Fund (alias Janoos) from trying its luck. The exact quantum is yet to be confirmed, but given Jane's reputation, the fund is unlikely to be satisfied with small purchases.

It had made a dramatic entry into Indian markets last year through big ticket purchases at the Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies and HFCL counters. Giving company to Jane at the Satyam computer is Singapoori Sarkar who is also regularly buying into Infosys Technologies as well.

Trivia
While the Reliance counter also moved in line with the downtrend over the past one week, Jane Fund made full use of the opportunity to make fresh purchases. The fund is reported to have picked up close to 5 million shares over the past 4-5 trading sessions. The Golden Socks fund is also believed to have mopped up close to 1.5 million shares over the last couple of trading sessions. Doish Green Fall is reported to have started picking up Zee Telefilms even as Stitcher and Bihari (Patnam) along with a host of other names are trying to relaunch Zee into a new orbit.

Santosh Nair
santoshnair@myiris.com