Tech was the buzzword today. But for all the wrong reasons. Almost every other technology stock worth the name was frozen at the 16 per cent lower limit, with the reason for the collapse being more technical than fundamental.
With the unwinding of outstanding positions still continuing, the token buying, which the bourses were witness to, failed to stem the slide. It was a tale of despair and the values which technology stocks have got beaten down to, would be unimaginable a few months back.
A bad bet
HCL Technologies had to bear the brunt of the selling pressure and it was locked at the 16 per cent limit. What makes the situation even more interesting is that just the previous week the Jan fund had mopped up more than 5 lakh shares in spite of the fact that the company has a business exposure to the telecom sector, which is in a state of major turmoil worldover.
This saw the price going all the way to the 380-levels. But before one could even digest this fact, the price crashed today to a low of around 260.
Apparently, the effect of the Jan fund's buying came to nought with the Pioneering fund deciding to clean its portfolio of the stock entirely, in the process selling about 5 lakh shares in the last couple of trading sessions.
Still in good health
Pharmaceutical stocks, fortunately, bucked the trend and in fact managed to post decent gains in a market where everything seemed to be falling apart.
The Dutch brokerage was seen picking up about 50,000 shares of Dr Reddy's, and a similar amount of Ranbaxy. There was some token buying in Cipla with quantities not being very significant but good enough to keep the price intact. Big Daddy was reported to be picking on this counter.
Fortunately, Big Daddy which has a fairly balanced portfolio, but a never ending cup of woes, must be drawing some solace from the fact that at least this segment of the market is holding ground.
What next?
With the demise of badla, the old rules of trading will no longer be valid. It is not uncommon these days to find traders educating themselves on what the new system would be like and at the same time trying to devise strategies to fit in with their profiles.
A lot of brainstorming and discussions to this effect are taking precedence over talking shop about what is actually happening in terms of market activity. It at least makes some sense to upgrade rather than fret about the state that the market finds itself in.
