It seems that the bourses just cannot function without rumours. Once again the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Unit Trust of India were the centre of attraction in the stock markets. While earlier during the day the talks of CBI raids on UTI officials and its ex-chairman were dismissed as false by a news agency, the reports were confirmed by a CBI spokeperson later during the day.
Leveraging Lever
Market players said that Uncle Sam was chasing Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) today and it is believed to have picked up eight lakh shares. Since the forecast last week that the monsoon will revive the rural economy, various foreign portfolio investors have been chasing the stock. Since HLL covers the vast rural market, the company will gain if agricultural production registers good growth which will lead to higher income for the rural sector.
More From This Section
Gainers & losers
The Big Bull Brokerage was at its best today. It grabbed the opportunity thrown up by the Sovereign Singapori Fund and Billa's Son by picking up lakhs of Dr Reddy's shares. The blue-chip pharmaceutical company has been the centre of attraction for some time now. This time around, the announcement that Novo Nordisk and Novartis Pharma AG have entered into an agreement on the commercialisation of a diabetes drug from Dr Reddy's caused the flurry of activity at the counter. Big Bull brokerage picked up one lakh Dr Reddy's shares, while Asasbe purchased 40,000 shares. However, the Sovereign Singapori Fund and Billa's Son used an upside to exit from the counter.
NIIT bugged
The miserable performance for the quarter ending June took its toll on NIIT and Y Car sold around 60,000 shares today. Normally June is the best time for software training companies because of new admissions. However, the poor performance in the crucial month is not expected to improve in the September ending quarter either. May be, this is also a reason why the Savvy Fund manager also dumped around two lakh NIIT shares.
The Y Car also sold substantially a few momentum stocks. The fund is reported to have sold around five lakh shares of Hindustan Futuristic Communications and around 1.5 lakh DSQ Software shares. Both these counters have faced trouble on account of their alleged connection with the One Man Army.