Street signs: Electronics Mart shares, all eyes on earnings, and more

Electronics Mart India anchor freeze to lift

The freeze on shares allotted to anchor investors of Electronics Mart India will partially end this week. The lock-in ends for only half of these shares; the other half will remain under freeze for 60 days. The stock gained 4.7 per cent last week. The shares of Dharmaj Crop Guard and Uniparts India, whose anchor partial lock-in ended last week, also gained. Stocks could be under pressure when the lock-in period ends as a lot of shares are up for sale. Analysts said these stocks gained on the back of a good run in the broader markets. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose 3.6 and 6 per cent, respectively, last week.

Ply, panel makers out of the woods

Stocks of companies producing wood panels will likely deliver better performance in 2023, with major opportunities in the medium-density fibreboard and particleboard (also known as chipboard or low-density fibreboard) markets. Demand from original equipment manufacturers and the retail sector is likely to drive growth. Moreover, unorganised players are likely to face pressure demand volatility and working capital issues. These will likely aid market-share gains for larger players in the near term. Greenpanel Industries and Century Plyboards India (CenturyPly) are likely to gain.

Markets will seek courage in earnings

Investors are hoping that the quarterly earnings of companies will bring some cheer to markets which had a choppy first week in 2023. After rising for the first two sessions, the Nifty ended the week with a loss of 1.2 per cent as strong US labour markets gave enough reason for the US Federal Reserve to keep rates higher. Analysts said markets will find some courage to rise if the results impress. “We recommend preferring a hedged approach and avoid overtrading,” said Ajit Mishra, vice-president-technical research, Religare Broking.