It is budget time, and like has always been the case, expectations are running high this time round too. Going by the wish-list, it could turn out to be a dream budget even if only half the proposals approved by the finance minister find their rightful place in the budget. There is only one difference this time, though. Few players are willing to back their expectations with investments. Rather they are waiting for formal announcements before they take up fresh positions in a big way. After last year's experience, players are more than willing to forego a portion of their profits. But they do not want to risk being caught on the wrong foot.Better L&T than never
The restructurring story at the L&T counter seems to be as hot as it was a couple of months back. Prices may have run up sharply, but as long as prices are on the move, there will always be more followers. On Tuesday, close to two million shares were reportedly picked up at the counter. The list of buyers included the Savvy Fund Manager and the Prudent Fund, among others.
Both these players were buyers in the recent past. Among cement stories, L&T has been able to attract the maximum institutional interest mainly because of the restructuring-cum-cement play.
Meanwhile, e-NAME still continues to maintain a bullish view on the cement sector in general and Grasim Industries in particular. On Tuesday also, e-NAME is reported to have made purchases at the Grasim counter. It is not clear if the purchase were made on a proprietary basis or on behalf of a fund.
No support
The SSI scrip failed to sustain its gains made on Monday, in the absence of follow-up buying interest at higher levels. The Global Brokerage, for one, feels that the scrip is fully valued at current levels. The house has a word of praise for the company as far as diversification in revenues is concerned. But Global also points out that the revenue from the telecom sector business has not grown significantly. This apart, revenues on the e-business front too were disappointing, Global says.
The report further adds that while the company is on course towards achieving the $100-million revenue target for the current fiscal. But at the same time, the report adds that the stock is fully priced for the kind of work that it is doing.
Trivia
After hitting the lower end of the circuit filter yet again on the day, Kesoram Industries managed to stage a partial recovery. The volumes seemed to indicate accumulation at lower levels.
Power stocks BSES and Tata Power too seem to be high on voltage although institutional interest at these counters has slowed down over the past few trading sessions.
Around 30,000 shares of NIIT were reportedly offloaded on the day although the identity of the fund is yet to be confirmed.
Uncle Jam is tipped to have been the executor. The brokerage had removed the stock from its model portfolio a couple of weeks back.
Santosh Nairsantoshnair@myiris.com
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
