Foreign institutional investors were in full force on the bourses today, mopping up the remains of the outstanding positions.
It will now just be a matter of academic interest as to what level the indices close at since it is fairly certain that it won't be Doomsday before the era of rolling settlement settles in.
This would come as a big relief to Big Daddy as it would need to benchmark its portfolio at the end of the month before its dividend declaration.
Double dose
Without doubt, Dr Reddy's has been the star at the bourses, not just today but during the entire month.
At a time when most mainline stocks were getting battered, this stock has gained more than 30 per cent. This is all the more noteworthy as the gain has come on a reasonably high base.
Today about 2 lakh shares were purchased with both the Jordan Flaming and Casanova Securities accounting for the bulk of the deals.
At a time when most businesses are floundering, Dr Reddy's is in a comfortable position thanks to the revenue flows from royalties on its drug delivery systems.
This stock has become the darling of the funds but it remains to be seen when it gets over-owned.
Picking leftovers
FIIs literally swarmed the bourses, picking up whatever was available in terms of stocks with outstanding positions and which would have to be compulsorily squared off by the end of the week.
The perception that this may be a rock-bottom price for picking up stocks -- with no further supply visible on the horizon -- could be the reason.
The Numero Uno brokerage, Jordan Flaming, Universal Banking and Simple Simon all had buy orders for a basket buying of stocks across the board, more specifically in technology counters which had got pounded in the last few sessions.
Stocks like Infosys, Satyam Computer, Global Tele-systems and Zee Telefilms were on everyone's buy list.
It is estimated that almost Rs 250- 300 crore worth of stock have been picked up today between these broking houses.
Co-Tech report
Co-Tech Securities has recommended the ICICI Bank stock, saying its current price provides a good buying opportunity. Its latest report states two prime reasons for the positive outlook.
It says that, with its parent ICICI selling ICICI Bank shares and cleaning up its balance sheet with the profits, the holding of ICICI may come down to about 40 per cent.
With a reduced holding, the confidence level in the management of effecting a fair valuation would correspondingly increase.
