Flattering To Deceive

Tuesday's session started on a exuberant note, but there was no build up on the initial gains. In fact, the Sensex wound up in negative territory. The erosion in technology stocks on the US bourses contributed largely to this downward spiral.

Spotlight on PSUs

A few public sector companies were in the limelight on Tuesday mainly due to developments in their favour, while domestic institutions were learnt to be buyers at these counters.

Big Daddy was a buyer in VSNL for 0.5 lakh shares, BHEL (2.5 lakh), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (1 lakh) and Corporation Bank. Players attributed the interest for the VSNL stock to the company's dividend of Rs 50 per share. The market has also started attributing the investment decisions of Big Daddy to the orders from the corridors of power.

CMC was another government firm which was being pursued largely by reports of major companies such as TCS, A V Birla Group and Reliance being in the race to pick up the government's stake. The scrip jumped 5.05 per cent to Rs 330 in the first hour of trading, though only around 4,000 shares were traded on the BSE.

Pharmas pulsate

Cipla touched a new 52-week high on Tuesday and was bought by the Prudent Fund and Cap-it-all among others. Cipla was not a lone case as pharmaceutical scrips such as Dr Reddy's and Ranbaxy Laboratories continued from where they left off the previous day as investors, at all levels, were purchasing them.

According to market players, one reason for the focus on the sector is that investors are tired of infotech and media scrips, and the downward trend in the consumer goods segment.

"The herd instinct takes care of the rest," a dealer pointed out. Wockhardt also made substantial gains on rumours that it is talking to a US company for an anti-bacterial drug.

Public amnesia

Amara Raja is a classic example for the short memory of the market with all the negative reports on the company failing to prevent the rise in the scrip. The jump was mainly backed by expectations over the company's gains from the acquisition of a German company by its alliance partner Johnson Controls. The company also has plans to augment its production capacities.

In fact, over the last 20 trading sessions, the scrip has gained around seven per cent.