Ice Counters Up Ahead Of Quarterlies

The ICE (information, communication, entertainment)-sector stocks in the Sensex basket came in for sustained buying interest ahead of the quarterly results season.

Dealers said the buying interest reflected higher expectations from these companies in the quarter ended December 2001.

The Satyam Computer Services scrip recorded the highest combined traded volume of 3.86 crore shares, Zee Telefilms witnessed 1.56 crore shares changing hands, while NIIT also witnessed heavy volumes at 45.55 lakh shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

The Satyam Computer Services share closed 8.24 per cent higher at Rs 256.75, but off its intra-day high of Rs 258.50. Scrips of Zee Telefilms and NIIT closed 10 per cent up each, at Rs 118.70 and 241.30, respectively.

Shares of Satyam has soared 25.73 per cent in the last five trading sessions from a low of Rs 203 on Dec 27, 2001, to the current price of Rs 255.25.

Prior to that, the stock fell sharply on profit taking due to the escalating tension along the Indo-Pak border last week. From Rs 272.40 on Dec 7, 2001, the counter fell 25.47 per cent to Rs 203 on December 27 2001.

Meanwhile, at the time of unveiling its Q2 results, the company had given a guidance of a flat Q3 (September-December) performance, citing uncertainty due to the global economic slowdown as well as the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.

There were mixed opinions about the rise in NIIT. One analyst felt that the rise in NIIT was due to talks of private placement and value buying on expectation of a rise in net profit on a quarter on quarter basis. Another analyst felt that the NIIT being usually operator driven, the rise was due to speculative buying.