1st trading day 2024: Stock-specific action on a day of wild swings

RailTel, YES Bank, Vodafone Idea, and BHEL rose 2-6%

Markets witnessed stock-specific action on Monday, although the benchmark indices remained flat.

The stocks of RailTel, YES Bank, Vodafone Idea, and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) rose 2-6 per cent on the first day of trade.

YES Bank gained 4.66 per cent after the private lender declared that it had received Rs 150 crore from a single trust in the security receipts portfolio after the NPA portfolio sale.
 

Shares of Vodafone Idea extended the Friday rally and climbed 5.94 per cent. 
 

On Friday, the stock had gained over 20 per cent on the buzz that promoters are looking to inject equity into the beleaguered 

telecom company.
 

RailTel Corporation of India also rallied for a second straight day because of its growing order book — the latest being a Rs 120.45 crore order from South Central Railway announced on Thursday. The stock ended Monday’s session with gains of 4.35 per cent.
 

The state-owned BHEL rose almost 6 per cent in the early trade and closed 2 per cent higher. The stock rose amidst reports that the company has secured the position of the top bidder for a substantial Rs 19,422-crore turnkey contract. The contract involves the construction of a thermal power plant for NLC India in Talabira, Odisha.
 

Analysts said the focus was on locally driven stocks due to the ongoing holiday season and foreign portfolio investors were largely absent. 
 

“Major exchanges were shut. The volumes were less and the focus was on local investor-driven stocks. From tomorrow, we will see activity resuming, and not much action will be seen on these five stocks. Institutional interest is limited in those stocks, because of which the volatility in other stocks was limited, and these stocks had more focus,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.