Want To Bell fund peels off Asian Paints

STREET SIGNS

With the share price of Asian Paints falling - though much in line with the general market trend - more than 10 per cent in the past three weeks, the Swiss-based Want To Bell fund has decided to press the sell button.

The fund is said to have sold nearly 10 lakh shares at the counter at Rs 497 levels. This despite impressive quarterly numbers from the company. Asian Paints had reported a 25.34 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 61.17 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, while total income increased 15.58 per cent to Rs 609.61 crore.

The counter had seen plenty of big deals earlier in October on hopes of higher profits on the back of increasing demand, particularly in the decorative paints segment.

The company is expected to post better margins too in FY06, thanks to lower price trends in raw materials. The company management expects decorative paint segment to grow 10-12 per cent and industrial paint segment to grow 20 per cent through FY06.

However, the Prized One Brokerage has played spoilsport by maintaining its neutral stance on the stock, though they did note that the fundamentals remain strong.

Rambo says Yes
Though Yes Bank is not of those stocks which have seen a lot of action of late, there are investors who are taking an active interest at the counter.

Rambo Bank for example, bought more than 1.5 lakh shares at the counter. The bank's impressive financial performances may have something to do with it.

Yes Bank reported a 26.70 per cent sequential growth in net profit to Rs 14.30 crore for the September quarter, led by contribution from both core business and fee-based income.

Income from core business i.e., net interest income stood at Rs 20 crore a robust jump of 49.6 per cent (q-o-q), while core earnings growth was led by significant expansion of the bank's credit portfolio.

These impressive figures were enough for Little Angel Brokerage to reiterate their 'buy' rating on the stock.

The brokerage notes that the bank is embarked on a fast growth trajectory with focus on niche knowledge banking and is expected to continue its high sequential growth momentum.

No masking this one
A flurry of positive news flow at the IT counter Mastek has prompted Castro Fund to take an exposure to the stock, despite a marginal dip in the company's revenues at Rs 153.1 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.

Consider this. Mastek, which is focused in the insurance, financial services and government verticals recently announced the launch of its third centre in Pune, and the ninth in India. The company is planning to recruit an estimated 1,500 people in the current year as it ramps up its operations.

In another development, Mastek also acquired the US-based software solutions company Entegram LLC through its US subsidiary Majesco Software Inc. No wonder Castro is impressed.