Street signs: Infosys tops buyback price; Bond Street trumps Dalal Street

Infosys tops buyback price
 

On Wednesday and Thursday last week, shares of Infosys surpassed the buyback price of Rs 1,150 less than a month after the technology giant concluded its Rs 130-billion share repurchase. However, on Friday, Infosys shares closed a little lower at Rs 1,143 on the BSE. Shares of Infosys are up 10 per cent this month. Post-buyback shareholding data shows, foreign portfolio investors have turned out to be more savvy investors, as their shareholding has increased by nearly 100 basis points (bps) during the December quarter. Mutual funds, on the other hand, have pruned their holdings by over 30 bps.

Pavan Burugula

Gruh Fin spurt surprises market

For the past few days, the stock price of Gruh Finance is following a curious trend. After trading flat for almost the entire session, the stock price jumps suddenly in the last one hour. In just five trading sessions, the stock is up from Rs 509 to Rs717 – up 40 per cent. “One wonders if it is a case of margin management by some traders,” says a market player. Incidentally, Gruh Finance is a subsidiary of Housing Development Finance Corporation, with a focus on providing home loans in rural areas. 
 

Joydeep Ghosh
 

Bond Street trumps Dalal Street 

Bond market investors witnessed heightened turbulence last week, with the 10-year benchmark government security witnessing wild swings on at least three trading sessions. In comparison, the equity market was relatively calm, with the benchmark indices gaining on most occasions and the Vix index, which is an indicator of volatility, remaining steady around 14-levels. “These are interesting times; you need to be more courageous be a bond market investor than an equity investor,” said a broker. Notably, 2017 was one of the least volatile years for the equity markets.

Samie Modak