Dalal Street Signs

An almighty crash, a follow up enquiry by Mr Know All and two contrasting results summed up the mood at the bourses last week.

The Sensex crashed 213 points on Tuesday, its biggest single-day fall in three years, thanks mainly to - what else - some exit poll results which predicted that things may not be so rosy for the ruling coalition at the Centre.

Eco-Friendly Funds, who are known for their fickle-mindedness, were immediately put under the scanner by Mr Know All who is hell bent on proving foul play on the day.

The saving grace, if one can call it that, was the fact that Phoenix Fund and Life Boy Corp were net buyers on that fateful day. The mood generally remained cautious after that with nervous street hawks preferring to wait till the election results for future signals.

Two corporate results announced on Thursday also stood out for their contrasting outcomes. Reliance Industries became the first Indian private sector company to cross the $1-billion mark in profits for a calendar year. No such luck for Hindustan Lever though which announced its steepest fall in profits in the last five years.

Missing the bus?

The activities at the CESC counter points to the proverbial retail investor dilemma. For starters the scrip (Rs 111.70) has risen by nearly 610 per cent in the past 12 months. Not surprisingly, the Frangipani have been busy at the counter, betting on the good future prospects of the RPG group company following its restructuring deal with financial institutions, which is expected to substantially bring down the company's annual interest outgo.

CT group Mauritius, Spanish Merry Lunch and Platini Fund were the major buyers at the counter. But that is only half the story.

An interesting fact is that retail investors have been fleeing the counter for much of the upswing, booking profits on each rise, which means they may have missed out on the big bounty. But it's not just the ordinary Joe who missed the bus. Our own Life Boy Corp is also known to have booked their profits much ahead of the finish line.

Big boys on the prowl

GSFC (Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation) is another counter where the Frangipani have been picking up stake as part of the company's debt restructuring plan.

While their holdings have risen only marginally at the counter, the buzz is that recent buying interest at the counter has more to do with Reliable Group's interest in picking up shares of the company from the secondary market.

With the Gujarat government said to be mulling divestment in the company, the Burly Group is also said to be eyeing stake in GSFC.

More the merrier

GSFC is not the only one where the Frangipani are evincing an interest. There are a host of other PSUs, too, like State Trading Corporation, Balmer Lawrie, Indraprastha Gas, Vijaya Bank, UCO Bank and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur which have seen higher Frangipani investments in the past months and for the usual reasons - anticipation of good future prospects and hopes of disinvestment. But it remains to be seen whether they will be just as interested in these counters in case the ongoing general elections throw up a googly.

Big deals

Block deals have been the order of the day at the newly listed Dishman Pharma counter. The Home Maker Fund and Prudent Fund are said to have bought 3.3 lakh shares each in the last week of April. While the former bought 1.9 lakh shares at Rs 465 per share, the latter is said to have consumed 1.4 lakh shares at Rs 458.79.