Strange ways of Merry Lunch

STREET SIGNS

One deal which had the market players raising their eyebrows involved Merry Lunch brokerage. They have reportedly sold a big chunk of their holdings in Reliance Capital at Rs 406 levels.

The curiosity of the general public can't be faulted when one considers that the sell-off happened just before the EGM of the company to consider the preferential issue of shares.

Some not given to compulsive rumour mongering saw nothing wrong with the move, noting that the stock has risen quite a bit before and after the brothers decided to part ways.

Suffice it to say that the stock has risen a cool 192 per cent since the start of the year. May be Merry Lunch just decided to listen to what several chartists have been advising of late, i.e, to book profits at Rs 400-410 levels.

Merry go round
Lot of interest is centered on the TV 18 counter these days. That is no surprise when one considers that regular visitors to the counter included such heavyweights as Merry Lunch and Castro Fund.

The former is said to have bought about three lakh shares at Rs 393 levels, while Castro Fund decided to get in a little earlier at Rs 380 levels.

Apart from being a leading business news channel, the company is planning to launch separate Hindi and English general news channels before the year end. TV 18 is planning to raise Rs 55 crore for the purpose through the conversion of warrants.

Aptech peek-a-boo
The action at the Aptech counter continued. However, unlike yesterday's action which was dominated by domestic investors, Tuesday's trades had a touch of glamour. Thanks mainly to Uncle Sam, who decided to buy four lakh shares at Rs 92 levels.

Oil drilling company Aban Loyd Chiles Offshore was another, which witnessed plenty of action. The prominent buyers at the counter included Japan's No More Fund and Metro Fund. Both these funds have apparently bought more than 2.5 lakh shares at Rs 450 levels.

In other action.
Big Boy Fund bought 75,000 shares of Kajaria Ceramics at Rs 219 levels. Interest is building up in textile counter, Alok Industries, with a newly launched equity fund buying some 80,000 shares at Rs 66 levels.

The newly debuted Nectar Life Sciences stock has also found takers, in the form of an emerging fund, which bought more than 80,000 shares at the counter.

The stock debuted at Rs 300 on the NSE, a 25 per cent premium to its issue price. Apart from those mentioned earlier, Merry Lunch also made a foray into the Amtek India counter at Rs 383.