It is back to tezi days at the exchanges. But one needs to take a close look at the current rally. The figures released by the exchanges clearly prove that yesterday's rally was driven largely by operators and speculators. Some foreign funds are reported to have made bids for stocks, where quarterly and half-yearly results are expected to be excellent. But, on a day when major indices firmed up, FIIs and domestic institutions were net sellers to the tune of Rs 9 crore at the NSE alone.
Sentiment may be changing and fund managers are again thinking of deploying the cash they have been sitting on. The GDRs are ruling at a premium, clearly indicating that foreign funds are active. But hold on, the foreign funds are not in any rush to buy the index.
While cash rich funds are getting into software and consumer goods stocks, operators have also changed tack. Operators have offloaded some of their long positions in software stocks and taken fresh position in stocks such as Telco.
The Novartis scrip was in the limelight yesterday with the counter clocking a volume of over 3.4 lakh shares on the BSE and NSE. It is reliably learnt that Morgan Stanley Asset Management (MSAM) bought 3 lakh shares of the scrip, one lakh shares on the BSE and 2 lakh shares on the NSE. The scrip has been in great demand ever since the announcement of excellent annual results by the company. Marketmen feel the shares have been sold by Atul Ltd, which holds around 10 lakh shares of the company. Most of the bulk transactions at the counter are usually executed off market. However, yesterday, the large trade is reported to have been done through the screen.
MSAM is also reported to have placed huge buy order at the Telco counter. The order is to the tune of 12 lakh shares which is yet to be lifted from the market.
Yesterday, close to one-and-half-lakh shares in HLL were purchased through a leading foreign broking house. The same broking house is also reported to be sourcing the Telco stock. And the operators have merrily joined the bandwagon.
The buying at the MTNL counter continued unabated. Another foreign broking house is reported to have purchased 4 lakh shares yesterday in addition to the 7 lakh picked up a day before. This massive buying at the MTNL counter on Tuesday is reported to have been on behalf of CGL Holdings. This fund is reported to have picked up close to 1.25 lakh shares of MTNL. Another 1.25 lakh shares were picked up by Schroders and close to one-and-a-half-lakh shares were purchased by a UK-based fund.
However, this stock witnessed some selling too on Tuesday. Among the sellers were, Government of Singapore which is reported to have offloaded nearly 3 lakh shares.
Two sub-accounts of Morgan Stanley, Tiger Fund and Jaguar Fund are reported to have been net sellers throughout June and July. Till now the two funds are reported to have remained net sellers of close to Rs 140 crore. On Tuesday, Jaguar is reported to have sold over 2 lakh shares of Bhel alone.
On the eve of first quarter results of Infosys, a foreign fund is reported to have purchases over 20,000 shares. On the same day UTI picked up over 50,000 shares of Infosys. A Canada-based fund is reported to have picked up over a lakh shares of Castrol. A European broking house is believed to have picked up over 70,000 shares of Bajaj Auto. With the buyback ordinance gaining momentum, Bajaj has once again turned the darling of investors. Morgan Stanley Asset Management seems to have a special liking for Calcutta's blue-chip, Bata Shoe. For the second day in running it is reported to have picked up over a lakh shares of Bata. A leading brokerage is reported to have accumulated over 2 lakh shares of Wipro over the past one week.
