Stocks in the news

J&K Bank

Jammu & Kashmir Bank (J&K Bank) was a major gainer last week, up 17 per cent to close at an all-time high of Rs 672.60. The daily average volume rose over 40 per cent to 1.80 lakh shares.

The stock saw an upmove on all the five days last week on expectations that FIIs might mop up the scrip after the RBI's permission to raise FII investment ceiling in this private sector bank to 40 per cent from 33 per cent. J&K Bank is a banker to the J&K government, which holds 53.17 per cent stake in the bank. As per the existing arrangement between the government and the bank, all state department accounts are maintained by the bank.

The scrip has surged sharply by 70 per cent since late September 2006 on strong lending growth. The bank's net profit rose 52.84 per cent to Rs 84.02 crore during the second quarter ended September 2006.

Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra gained 33 per cent after the company had bagged $1 billion deal from British Telecom (BT) for five years. The company signed a deal to provide BT with strategic sourcing services.

This contract is expected to add over $1 billion revenue for the company over the period. The Tech Mahindra stock appreciated 33 per cent to Rs 1,654.50 on Friday, from Rs 1,244 on December 20. On a weekly basis, the counter gained 47 per cent from Rs 1,127.65 on December 15.

The deal will support BT's planned growth of managed services to business customers around the globe and will continue to provide ongoing services related to BT's internal systems, processes and reusable platforms. The two companies will work together on creating and operating a global delivery organisation to achieve greater flexibility and efficiencies.

"� BS Research