Fitch Twitch

Close on the heels of the reduced weightage of India in the MSCI, another negative factor has struck.

With rating agency Fitch downgrading India's sovereign rating to negative, market intermediaries are having a closer look at fundamentals to check if all is well or not.

Although most players had shrugged off the importance of the readjusted MSCI, the new downgrade has stirred them out of their complacent attitude.

Forgotten scrip

After making waves on the bourses in the wake of the hostile bid on the company, Bombay Dyeing has been a forgotten scrip.

Earlier noises of the company making an open offer at about Rs 80 have also died down.

The scrip is now back languishing at the Rs 40 levels, almost the same level at which the jute baron had started accumulating the stock, considering that his average acquisition cost was much higher.

It definitely makes one curious as to what actually transpired for such a high profile issue to have receded from the limelight without a whimper.

Worrisome Dad

Big Daddy has been the most worrisome of all factors on the bourses of late. In a chicken-and-egg phenomenon, the fears of large redemptions from the fund are leading to further redemption pressures since it is speculated that the NAV of the units may actually be well below the repurchase price.

For those not wanting to bet on the viability of the fund, they feel it is better to cash in and stay put.

Rumours doing the rounds were that a prominent business house led by a young chief, had intimated the fund that it intended to redeem funds to the tune of Rs 400 crore.

With the non-stop pressure on the fund only a miracle could possibly change its fortunes in the near-term.

The fund has been a regular seller on most counters irrespective of the merits of the stock in a bid to raise whatever resources it can.

Cement story

According to some analysts, the cement story may not be what it is really being made out to be.

The personal interest in individual cement stocks by different entities is what is making it look like a complete story.

With Reliance known to be interested in Larsen and Toubro, especially after the company upped its stake recently, and the Ambuja Group in ACC, it leaves very little among the mainline cement stocks to perform on their own merit.

So cement is bound to be in focus irrespective of there being a story or not. Today the Big Bull brokerage is reported to have sold about 2 lakh shares of Gujarat Ambuja, while the man from Calcutta also reportedly pared his exposure in ACC.