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There were more companies which ended with gains than with losses among those named in last night’s penal order from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for defaulting on the deadline for meeting the minimum public shareholding norm.
Fifteen companies ended in the red. The number of stocks which ended with gains was one more, at 16, according to an analysis by Business Standard. Another 41 remained unchanged. The analysis looked at stocks which have been actively traded and excluded suspended companies or those with no trading volume among those named in the Sebi order.
Jitendra Panda, head of broking at Capital First Securities, suggested there had been no change in outlook for the companies named in Sebi’s list. And, hence, little effect on the share price.
“There is nothing wrong fundamentally with the companies, so people are not panicking. It is expected that promoters will take urgent steps to deal with the issue,” he said. (FACING A FREEZE)
All the 16 companies which ended with gains actually performed at par with or better than the BSE Sensex, an index whose returns are said to be representative of how the market is faring. The Sensex closed at 19,568.22, up 22.44 points or 0.1 per cent. The gainers went up from 0.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent.
Sebi chairman UK Sinha had earlier said they’d try to spare minority shareholders. Prithvi Haldea, chairman of Prime Database, suggested the regulator could have taken a tougher stance.
“The steps taken by Sebi to pull up companies which have not complied with the norms are soft. The measures do not result in a monetary loss for these promoters. Ideally, the shares over and above the permitted shareholding limit should have been auctioned,” he said.
Among the known names to close in negative territory was realty company Omaxe, down 1.06 per cent. Tata Teleservices Maharashtra fell 1.6 per cent and Videocon Industries was down 0.1 per cent. The only stock to show double-digit loss today among the better known companies was Bombay Rayon Fashion. It was down 18.4 per cent.
Investors might have the upper hand now, according to one expert. Since stake sales have become inevitable in these companies under thee scanner, the promoters are likely to offer deeper discounts to unload their stake, said the person.
