The fall in the Nasdaq managed to nudge the local bourses into a strong mode of profit-booking with sellers emerging on virtually every counter.
Just when the local punters were beginning to feel that they have missed the rally and desperately jumped on to the bull bandwagon, the correction set in.
As usual, its always the small fry left holding the baby. This time too seems to be no exception.
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Infosys - stopped in its tracks
Infosys which had a dream run, crossing the 4000-mark after a long time, was pushed back below that psychological level when a large fund, possibly Cap-it-all decided to book some profits.
The fund is reported to have sold about 1.75 lakh shares today through the Dutch brokerage. The fall in Infosys had a cascading effect on the rest of the software sector with other funds jumping to take whatever profits were available.
To add fuel to the fire, Big Daddy has been a perennial seller on the counter depriving the counter of a contrarian to take the sting out of the fall.
The Prudent fund, which is known to take several short-term trading views, was quick to sell off about 1.5 lakh shares of Satyam Computer and smaller quantities of other software stocks like Digital and Polaris.
About 10 lakh shares of Zee Telefilms is also reported to have been sold although the fund's identity could not be confirmed.
Some players who have got the whiff of some impending bad news also lightened their positions resulting in the stock losing about 12 per cent.
In top gear
The Bajaj Auto stock managed to buck the overall trend and closed at the 8 per cent upper circuit limit.
The stock, in effect, has outperformed the rest of the automobile sector which has also been on a steady uptrend.
Four lakh shares were bought by King Kong in today's session. The firm has taken a positive view on the stock lately and have been pushing it quite aggressively.
The expectations of some benefits to the auto sector have also played some role in the revival of interests in these counters.
Coming of age
Aksh Optifibres is the new kid on the block. The stock is beginning to attract attention of players and after the analysts' meet, some of the larger firms have started coverage of the stock.
The Jordan Flaming brokerage has put out a buy recommendation on this stock and has attributed many positives to it.
The company, engaged in the manufacture of optical fibres, has apparently been the lowest bidder in the recent global tender floated by BSNL in one of the categories.
It has also finalised a contract with Shinetsu of Japan for supply of certain raw materials at a 40 per cent lower cost than at present. All these factors are expected to weigh favourably on the company's bottomline which is already impressive.