Street Signs

SMART EYE

As the Sensex soared to a new life-time high on Monday last, market watchers sensed a strong pre-Budget rally. Only if wishes were horses.

Spoilsports, who were unwilling to push their luck any further, were in a hurry to book profits for the rest of the week.

As profit-booking mounted the index was to end the week with losses for the last four trading sessions. Too bad. Not exactly the way to welcome the newly appointed chief of Mr Know All who took charge on Friday.

Hot rice
Basmati rice exporter Satnam Overseas qualifies as our 'hot counter' of the week. Lots of deals were happening at the counter, with frangipani Metro Fund showing the maximum interest. The fund bought a lakh of Satnam shares at Rs 119.04.

Naturally, the scrip raced to its 52-week high of Rs 123 during the week, before settling to end the week at Rs 117. Recent trends have also been positive, with the stock advancing more than 33 per cent in the past month.

And it is all to do with a quantum jump (386 per cent to Rs 29.91 crore) in the export of branded basmati rice during the December 2004 quarter. Other Metro Fund activity surrounded D-Link where it sold 2.04 lakh shares at Rs 128.55.

That may not be such a smart thing, considering the scrip's long-term bullishness. While analysts agree that the stock may not be a good bet for the next two to three months, they are bullish on it over the longer team, with some even predicting the stock will touch Rs 300-350 levels in the next one or two years. Perhaps, Metro knows better.

Castro in action
Frangipani Castro Fund which has been given the go ahead to start its asset management operations in the country, was the major buyer at tech counter Moschip Semiconductors. The fund picked up 3.5 lakh shares at Rs 50.34 and another 3.40 lakh shares at Rs 51.15 later in the week.

All this big buying saw the scrip zooming to its 52-week high at Rs 54.50. It is not difficult to understand Castro's interest in the counter with the company announcing plans to hike its capital and for a possible offer of global depository receipts (GDRs) not exceeding $12 million.

However, Castro is not that gung-ho about the future of Padmalaya Telefilms, with the fund selling nearly a lakh of shares of the media stock at Rs 44.78.

With media major Zee Tele asking the Padmalaya promoters to pay up the Rs 59 crore to buy out their (Zee's) entire shares in Padmalaya Tele, Castro's apprehensions are understandable.

Buzz is that...
Things are hotting up at paper counters like Orient Paper, Ballarpur Industries and Tamil Nadu Newsprint which have seen a considerable spurt in prices in the past few sessions.

The talk is that all large paper mills are contemplating a hike in writing and printing (W&P) paper prices, on an average by Rs 1,000 per tonne from March 1, 2005, which is causing the buying interest.

Prudent Fund is said to be among the big buyers, grabbing more than 2.7 lakh shares of Orient Paper in a price range of Rs 135-137.

What to expect this week?

With the Sensex logging more losses than gains last week the mood is expected to be cautious going forward. Players are looking forward to the announcement of the Budget later this month for future direction,in the absence of any other indicators.

Despite the recent correction, the overall sentiment remains optimistic on the hopes of a reforms-oriented Budget, strong foreign fund flows and good corporate performances. With the February series contracts set to expire on Thursday, the markets may witness some volatility.