For every buyer there are ten sellers. So if somebody decides to make a purchase, rather than encouraging more buyers, he only manages to end up providing an exit route to the seller. Any sudden increase in volumes is seen as an opportunity to jump ship.

Savvy on the move
Even as most fund managers were struggling to cope up with dwindling inflows, the Savvy Fund Manager seemed to be making optimum use of resources available with him.

His rapid moves might be difficult to comprehend, but then, only the nimble footed can survive in these kind of sluggish market conditions.

Savvy is reported to have dumped close to two lakh shares of Sterlite Optical today. The buyer's identity could not be confirmed, but the sales were smoothly absorbed without any impact on the prices. The company is expected to announce good quarterly numbers shortly and perhaps that could have been reason enough for fresh buyers to jump in.

Meanwhile, he is also reported to be steadily making purchases at the Nestle India counter.

Probably, there might be something in the quarterly numbers, which the rest of the market might have missed. Giving him company at the counter is our very old Uncle Sam.

Making merry
The US-based Merry Lunch Fund (not to be confused with the broking arm or the local AMC) is reported to have been very active at the NIIT counter on Friday.

The fund sold close to five lakh shares which caused the price to plunge to Rs 1,491 levels during intra-day trading. However, another US-based fund, in all likelihood Uncle Sam, is reported to have stepped in and picked up 3.5 lakh shares on the same day, which helped prices to recover.

Today, the prices remained wobbly throughout the day. One does not know if it lack of follow up buying interest or Merry Lunch back in action.

The more.. the merrier
But not for the Satyam Computer scrip which seemed to be still wilting under the combined onslaught of Merry Lunch Fund and Picket Fund on Friday. Close to 2.5 million shares were reported to have been dumped on Friday with these two entities leading the assault team. Stunned by the magnitude of recent sales, even the bravest bargain hunter was not willing to touch the scrip for now.

And with every sale, more shadows of the past resurface, which only serve to scare away prospective buyers.

All said and done, two circuit filters on either sides is all you need to change the outlook on a stock, for the better or worse.

Meanwhile close to five lakh shares were reported to have been dumped today with the identity of the buyer yet to be confirmed.

Foreign hand?
The HLL scrip did manage to make a smart recovery despite some battering from the FnC on Friday. The fund had offloaded close to seven lakh shares last week, resulting in a supply overhang at the counter. But the scrip has been resisting all efforts to push it below Rs 170 levels. Close to two to three lakh shares were reported to have been picked up on today. While Hong Kong based Jordan Flaming's name cropped up among the probable buyers, Cap-It-All's involvement cannot be ruled out altogether. The fund had picked up close to four million shares of HLL about a month back.

Santosh Nair
(email: santoshnair@myiris.com)