Merry lunches at VSNL counter

Tuesday’s correction seemed like some auspicious event, coming after three straight sessions of gains and being the first downtrend of the new year.

The view among players seems to be unanimous: market in for a sustained uptrend, with a strong support level at 3100, except in case of any drastic global event. And that drastic event would have to do something to do with Osama Bin Laden & Co. War clouds may have receded into the background, but fund managers will have Osama at the back of their mind every time they make an investment decision, at least in the near term.

Boot Leggers back in action
With technology stocks back in demand, it is action time for those who specialise in selling old wine in new bottles. The momentum stocks in play include Hughes Software, which is the latest favourite with quite a few market makers. The story doing the rounds is that the company will come out with an open offer at around Rs 550 per share.
Open offer instances have always been long drawn out cases as past trends suggest. But, they definitely do sell like hot cakes in the initial euphoria. Some of the fund houses too are reported to have taken an exposure to the counter with Savvy Fund Manager tipped to be one of them.

New found love
Whispers of yet another special dividend offering on the cards lured investors back to the VSNL counter. The scrip had come in for some rough treatment after the Trai recommended unlimited competition in the ILD segment with a 15 per cent revenue sharing arrangement.
Among the executors, the Why Care brokerage is reported to have dumped a little over 1 million shares over the last few days. The e-NAME brokerage is reported to have mopped a significant chunk in the midst of the selling spree. The other prominent buyer at the counter on Monday was the Merry Lunch brokerage which mopped up about 3 lakh shares on behalf of one of its clients.

Disinvestment continues to be a carrot that players simply cannot afford to ignore, or perhaps do not want to ignore.

Another of e-NAME’s favourites, Grasim Industries held ground on Tuesday after Monday’s selling spree in which the Numero Uno brokerage had dumped close to 3.5 lakh shares on behalf of an overseas client.

The sweet bitter pill
Big Daddy played the knight in shining armour at the Dr Reddy’s counter after the scrip crashed to the lower end of the circuit filter during intra-day trading.

And lending support to Daddy were the Prudent Fund, Small Daddy of local mutual funds and Uncle Sam. But, sellers clearly held the upper hand with the Singapoori Sarkar leading the pack. The intensity of selling was neutralised to some extent, but the battle at the counter seems to be far from over. The stock has become so over owned that the exit door is too narrow for everybody to jump out at the same time.

Trivia
The Colgate scrip seems to have found a new follower even as one of its most loyal supporters, Uncle Sam, has been seen booking profits at the counter. The counter witnessed a spurt in trading volumes on Tuesday with Sam tipped to have offered the shares.
The other FMC scrip in play was Dabur, with around 3 lakh shares reported to have been offloaded on Tuesday.

All fingers are pointing at Uncle Sam, who has been a regular seller at the counter in recent times. Among market makers, Chotte Miyan is reported to be steadily accumulating shares of Apollo Hospital at every decline, while the Why Care brokerage is reported to have mopped up around 5 lakh shares of Telco on Monday.

— Santosh Nair, santoshnair@myiris.com