Although the undertone is still bullish, most players preferred to adopt a cautious approach and decided to build positions gradually rather than aggressively. With fears of an imminent oil price hike having receded, short-term bull operators were relieved and felt more confident.
However, the correction in software stocks continued and they showed greater volatility. Old Economy stocks managed to hold ground and helped to reduce the overall loss in the Sensex.
Telco in top gear....
The stock was one of the star performers yesterday. There were rumours of the company planning to hive off its car division in the near future. Whether Uncle Sam had any inkling about this or not is not clear but he was prompted to buy about 2 million shares. The stock closed the day off its highs but nevertheless with substantial gains.
Sterlite stir
The counter met with heavy selling and went below the circuit filter limit of 8 per cent. There were rumours of the company losing an order from DoT to its competitor. Some more damaging reports not directly connected with the company's day-to-day business were also reported in a section of the press. Prudent Fund is reported to have sold about 3 lakh shares, while Savvy Fund manager also sold about a couple of lakh shares. This was in spite of Cross Bee Brokerage having bought about a lakh and a half shares and Numero Uno about 70,000 shares in the previous trading session.
No silver lining
While the Silverline Industries counter was in the process of making a comeback on the bourses with rumours of acquisitions in the US, the Savvy Fund manager seemed unimpressed and decided to offload about 3 lakh shares. This has acted a a dampener to those bulls who were having a relook at the stock. The stock, after opening at the upper end of the circuit filter, gave up those gains and finally closed about 2 per cent lower than its Friday close.
ICE action
Infosys was a major culprit in spoiling the sentiment towards software stocks yesterday. A major European broking house is reported to have sold about 50,000 shares for one of its clients yesterday. This had a major negative impact on all ICE stocks though the level of buying was considerable in the previous trading session.
About 5 lakh Satyam Computers was picked up buy Universal Banking and a few other broking houses put together in the previous trading session. Jordan Flaming also bought a basket of ICE stocks for its clients. Other stocks to find favour among most broking houses were Software Solutions and Wipro with reasonable quantities being accumulated overall. However, the overall sentiment was a spoiler and had no bearing on their values.
And other deals
Big Bull sold a basket of Old Economy stocks for its clients prominent among them being 2 lakh shares of MTNL and about 2 lakh shares of BSES. Dr Reddy's Laboratories saw mixed action with the Y Carr Brokerage and Big Bull buying about 75000 shares between them while Cross Bee sold about 30000 shares. Y Carr Brokerage also bought a couple of lakh shares of Raymonds for one of its prominent clients with news of the sale of its cement plant doing the rounds.
Sector Outlook....
For die-hard believers of the Old Economy, especially the cement sector, there may be news to cheer about. Cement prices are spiralling upwards touching almost Rs 140 per bag compared to Rs 90 a few months back. The producers have never had it as good as it is now. Whether this translates into any positive impact on the stock prices or whether the stocks will continue to be ignored only time will tell.
