Daddy & #39;S Day Out

The stock markets again went into the red following a drag on index heavyweights Reliance, HLL, ITC and the like.

The reasons were attributed to Big Daddy. However, the star that emerged on Friday was clearly Zee Telefilms.

The past couple of days witnessed hectic activity from the foreign portfolio investors with even the low profile ones emerging active buyers. Big Daddy continued to be a heavy seller.

Zee

Golden Fund lent a helping hand when a large seller, probably Open Hammer Fund, dumped about 25 lakh shares.

The surprising factor in this deal is that Golden Fund, a heavy seller last week, has suddenly turned a buyer.

Meanwhile, Open Hammer Fund, which bought Zee shares at around Rs 100 per share, turned a seller.

However, according to market rumours, the sharp movement in the stock price cannot be without a reason.

The price movement seems to suggest that some development in Zee is on the cards. Interest of an Italian tycoon in picking up the promoter's stake is touted as a reason.

Moreover, Zee promoters are rumoured to be now open to offer controlling stake to a strategic investor and that the merchant bankers have valued Zee at Rs 220 per share.

Zee had found a buyer in Savvy Fund Manager a couple of days ago, which sparked the rally. Uncle Jam, who was a buyer then, is said to be a buyer on Friday as well. Cassa Nova sold about 4 lakh shares of Friday were to be sold.

Big Daddy

Big Daddy is rumoured to be selling across the market. For more than a month now, it has lapped up the opportunity to sell at every rise, but what surprised the market on Friday was the aggression with which it sold index heavyweights.

Big Daddy is indicated to have sold Reliance, RPL, HLL, ITC and Satyam. It is said to have sold about 3 lakh shares of Reliance Industries on Thursday. There are over one crore shares to be sold, if Big Daddy restructures its portfolio.

Market players also think of the chances that Big Daddy and Reliance may hammer a deal so that a large quantity may be offloaded directly and not in the market to reduce the pressure on price.

Reliance has an open offer pending, but that is below Rs 303 levels. The current price of Rs 322 is fairly above that.

Sticky lubricant

The dilemma in Castrol continues with the stock staying in the limelight in the last couple of trading sessions. Market players said there had been a tug of war between the bulls and the bears.

Cap-it-all had been a regular seller, while Savvy Fund Manager and some others are reported to be the buyers in the stock. Cap-it-all is said to have offloaded around 2 lakh shares on Thursday.