Only buyers?
It was a house full show at the Satyam Computer counters for the second consecutive day. On Thursday, close to 3 million shares are reported to have been picked up with the HS Busy Asset Management accounting for close to about 8 lakh shares. While other local funds too were reported to have been active at the counter, a significant chunk of buying took place through the participatory note route. On Friday, another 1.5 million shares are reported to have been picked up, a bulk of it through the participatory note route. Less than two months back, almost every fund manager in town was bemoaning the mounting losses in Satyam's Nasdaq listed subsidiary Sify. But with the third quarter numbers around the corner, everybody is singing a tune.

The also Ran(baxy)
Technology stocks might have hogged the limelight, but the first half of the day clearly belonged to the Ranbaxy counter. Close to 12 lakh shares were reported to have been picked up by institutional players. Uncle Sam is reported to have been one of the most active buyers at the counter on Friday. Because of its defensive nature, many fund managers had bought into the counter a couple of months back when ICE stocks were struggling for direction. But once again, it is the very defensive nature of the stock that caps the upside too. The moment there is a sharp run up in prices, most fund managers decided to book profits, on fears of over valuation.

One-way street
Even though One Man Army is waging long drawn battle at the Global Telesystems and HFCL counters, he has still managed to open up a new front at the Wipro counter. He is reported to be one of the main forces behind the rally witnessed at the counter over the past few trading sessions. There has been buying interest at the counter to the tune of 40-50,000 shares on Wednesday and Thursday from obscure foreign funds. But more than the token buying interest, it is the lack of supply (and of course, the Man) that is holding up prices. On earlier occasions, the stock has faced a severe resistance at around Rs 3,200 levels.

Say yes
Recently, the Say Yes If Be brokerage had created a flutter when it downgraded the Indian IT sector. But on the other hand, it continues to merrily buy into the Infosys Technologies stock through the participatory note route. That is one of the reasons why the stock has been able to hold ground, despite regular selling by committed funds, Uncle Sam being one of the prime candidates.

Flashback
The Bihari Fund (Patna-m) is reported to have picked up close to 60,000 shares at the HFCL counter on Thursday. Meanwhile Tumble Ton's regular purchases at the Zee Telefilms counter seems to be reflecting in the prices gradually. On Thursday too, the fund is reported to have picked up another 5 lakh shares at the counter. Friday's institutional purchases at the counter are yet to be confirmed.

Santosh Nair(email:santoshnair@myiris.com)