Bangalore, Aug 20: Warehousing is the new buzzword for investors. With pivotals languishing and opportunities to book profits on the wane, investors are now seeking greener pastures in scrips which have attracted heavy institutional buying.

``Warehousing'' is a phenomenon whereby operators corner floating stocks of a particular scrip and hold on to them for a particular period to book profits. This is particularly evident when the trading volumes jump suddenly or there is a lack of shares. The trend which was predominant in the 1992 boom days had taken a backseat due to the prolonged impasse in the capital markets.

The post 1992 scenario saw the increased presence of institutions and foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Both FIs as well as FIIs are the dominant players in the capital market today with huge number of purchases. The insitutions have not confined their presence to the capital market but also to the boardrooms of many companies. In fact, in many a company they have a major say in the day-to-day affairs.

The FIIs and FIs having satiated their appetite for pivotals are now eyeing bank scrips and some companies with strong fundamentals. According to marketmen the paradigm shift to bank scrips by FIIs comes at a time when most of the banks are going public.

Global Trust Bank is one example of this, point out a leading Banglore-based broker. The bank has in the past one week attracted strong buying with prices firming up to Rs 58 from Rs 38 on Aug 11. The volumes have also gone up to 21,400 on Tuesday from 100 on Aug 11. This is a clear case of warehousing, maintains an investment analyst based in Bangalore.

Till last week the voulmes in the scrip were nothing to crow about. But in the last two days it has been 12,900 and 21,400 showing heavy unloading by investors to book profits.

Prior to bank scrips, the phenomenon of warehousing was evident in Satyam Computers and Infosys. The share prices of both the companies had witnessed a significant rise following their decision to hike institutional stakes to 30 per cent. Infosys was traded on Wednesday at the BgSE for Rs 2,350 while Satyam Computers touched a high of Rs 179 recently.

Significantly the share prices started rising after both the companies made their decision to hike FII stake public. However, the interest in both these scrips dwindled once the Reserve Bank of India decided to ban further FII buying in these scrips.

Vysya Bank is yet another case in point. Though it is too early to speak of volumes in just one trading session yesterday the volume jumped from 200 on Saturday to 1,300. The share prices went up to Rs 180 yesterday from Rs 160.35 on Saturday. On Monday, the day the bank was holding its annual general meeting, the scrip never came up for trading as there were no buyers or sellers. At its AGM the shareholders approved the bank's proposal to increase institutional stake. Subsequently on Tuesday there was strong buying interest which continued on Wednesday also when the scrip closed at Rs 174.20. BgSE brokers opine that Vysya Bank which saw lacklustre trading until now will firm up further and may cross the Rs 250 mark in the next couple of weeks.

BPL is another recent case in point. Though there has been no announcement from the company, investors expect some decision at the forthcoming AGM on September 17. The share prices of the company are currently in the Rs 100 range from Rs 79 on July 31.

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