Street Signs

SMART EYE

Will they, won't they? We are of course debating about whether the ruling NDA will get a majority to rule again. Those demons called exit polls were again back to haunt the markets after the third phase of this never-ending poll season.

Pre-poll jitters dragged the markets down on Monday. Enter opinion polls which suggested that the NDA might just about make it.

The Sensex zoomed more than 100 points on the next two sessions combined. The pollsters then backed the NDA again after the polls, which resulted in another 70 points rise.

By then it was time to book profits before the next exit polls come out on Monday. The street hawks did so promptly, causing the index to crash nearly 90 points. If you are looking for some sagely advice, there is only one thing that pundits are saying - stay out till it is over on May 13.

There was more fun. Jammu & Kashmir Bank declared a Rs 170 crore net profit for Q4 and then revised it down to Rs 98 crore the very next day, blaming it on calculation errors! Needless to say the scrip was thrashed. It was that kind of a week.

Not so stately
The shares of the country's largest commercial bank State Bank of India was in doldrums early in the week. It seems that desi funds as well as Frangipani have been outselling each other at the counter.

Whether the selling was a result of the Monetary Monastery's new norms on dividend declaration is not clear, though analysts are quite optimistic on the scrip.

Though SBI has not yet qualified for the new norms, it is expected to do so by FY05. In a recent 'buy' report, I See U See Securities had noted that the bank's asset quality is also no longer a serious issue. Whatever the case may be, the buzz was that Jordan Flaming Brokerage was among those actively dumping the stock.

Tisco troubles
Steel behemoth Tisco was also among the scrips which had it rough last week. Metal stocks have been knocked about in the past two weeks, on concerns of lower steel demand from China, following Chinese government plans to cool down its economy.

Chinese demand has been one of the main reasons behind the spectacular run in steel stock prices last year. While analysts are hopeful that growing domestic demand should take care of short term profitability, what will happen in the long run is anybody's guess.

Among others, Lending Brokerage is said to have dumped close to 10 lakh Tisco shares at the start of the week.

Family matters
One of the few scrips to have a decent run during the week was HDFC. The stock was on the rise mid-week after a block deal of nearly 1.16 lakh shares was struck at Rs 642 per share.

According to market buzz, the deal happened between two Frangipani belonging to the same family.

While the Euro Pacific arm of Capital Research & Management Co sold the shares it was picked up by their own World Growth Fund.

Meanwhile, everything is honky dory in the world of HDFC, with the company announcing results in line with analyst expectations, posting a net profit rise 25 per cent to Rs 297.97 crore for Q4.