Swiss broker on pharma foray

UNION Swiss Bank brokerage has predicted a target of Rs 700 for the Ranbaxy scrip in its latest research report. Seems as if USB’s aggression itself might take the scrip to the target price ahead of schedule.

On Monday, the brokerage is reported to have picked up close to 40,000 shares on behalf of one of its clients. Of course, Big Daddy and Life Boat are playing the spoilsports, but the Ranbaxy fan club seems to enjoy a clear majority for now.

The brokerage single handedly spearheaded the rally at the counter last week, picking up nearly 11 lakh shares for its various clients.
The Prudent Fund is reported to have accumulated a small chunk of Cipla today, even as the stock attracted the attention of profit takers towards closing bell.

From the analysts desk
Co-Tech Securities has told its clients it is satisfied about the outcome of its latest meeting with the Satyam management and maintains its buy rating on the stock. According to the research analyst at Co-Tech, one of the most likely option to address concerns over Sify is that the management might offer Sify shares to Satyam shareholders as a stock dividend.

On the Vision Compass front, the company has said that it has made sales of about $70,000 during Q2 fiscal 2002 and is on target for achieving sales of $2.4 million for the full year. But even
Co-Tech feels that it is a tall order.

Also, the house believes that the scrip could get a re-rating only when the management actually makes some concrete moves.

Comeback kids
SSI was once again an exception to the general trend seen at tech counters, despite having come in for some harsh treatment at the hands of the savvy Fund Manager on Monday.

Savvy is believed to have dumped close to 5 lakh shares. Even after the management hinting at a tough quarter ahead in its late evening conference call, the scrip finished among the handful of gainers in the sector today. No major institutional buying interest could be confirmed however. Meanwhile, Savvy is reported to be a regular seller at the ICICI Bank counter and accounted for a bulk of the 70 odd thousand shares that were dumped today.

Trivia
Just when the HFCL scrip was trying to recuperate from Why Care’s relentless onslaught, Uncle Jam has now trained its guns on the stock.

The brokerage is reported to have dumped close to a million shares on Monday. According to Watson, the high flying Jane Fund is reported to have started offloading HFCL shares.

Meanwhile Cross Bee and Uncle Jam are reported to have picked up around 7.5 lakh shares of Zee Telefilms on behalf of their respective clients with the Bee accounting for over 60 per cent of the deal.

Joining ranks with southie super star Coat Hari Mutual at the HCL Tech counter is Big Boy Mutual which added close to 35,000 shares on Monday and also the Savvy Fund Manager who has started accumulating small chunks.

—Santosh Nair
Santoshnair@myiris.com