Satyam Computers Touches New 52-Week High

Thursday was an eventful day in the life of the Satyam Computers' stock. First, the stock zoomed to a new 52-week high of Rs 554 on the NSE before crashing to an intra-day low of Rs 490.

Marketmen said the sharp fall was because a leading foreign fund had sold nearly 5 lakh shares of the scrip yesterday. However, it showed modest recovery from the intra-day low to close at RS 501.25, down Rs 36.20 over the previous close.

In terms of volumes, it was the most actively traded securities on the NSE with 99.50 lakh shares worth Rs 513 crore changing hands. Combined volumes were even higher - a total of 1.41 crore shares changed hands on the BSE and NSE yesterday, which is almost 70 per cent of the company's equity capital.

 

Public holding in the scrip amounts to about 27 per cent while foreign holding stands at about 11 per cent. The scrip is currently in its no delivery period on the BSE and NSE.

Other software scrips also slipped yesterday on profit booking from institutions, both foreign and local. The three scrips which defied the trend were the HCL Infosystems and DSQ Software scrip which continued to hit the upper end of the circuit filter on frenzied trading interest.

An UTI off shore fund was also reported to a be a major buyer at the BFL Software counter. The scrip touched a new 52-week high of Rs 422 on the NSE during intra-day trading with 9.61 lakh shares changing hands yesterday.

Another scrip, which has recently caught market fancy is Fujitso ICIM. On the BSE yesterday barely 1,154 shares were traded with trading being frozen at the weekly settlement ceiling of Rs 56.20. Marketmen said the scrip has been attracting buying interest after the company announced that it would be giving greater attention to its software operations.

There are also rumours in the market about the possibility of Fujitso hiking its stake in the company. However, this was strongly denied by company officials.

Among other stocks which caught the eye was the Flat Products scrip which witnessed trading volumes of 28, 600 shares on the NSE in anticipation of excellent corporate results.

Yesterday, the scrip flared up by 10 per cent on the NSE to Rs 82.45 during intra-day trading. However, weakening market trends took its toll on the scrip, which closed at Rs 77.95, up Rs 3 over the previous close. Marketmen expect a net profit figure in the range of Rs 8 crore, which is a 300 per cent jump over the previous year's profit figures. A leading domestic institution which has been steadily accumulating shares since Rs 37 levels, has been selectively booking profits at the counter, brokers said.

Hectic activity was witnessed at the HEG and Henkel Spic counters, both seeing sharp spurt in trading volumes yesterday. The HEG scrip clocked trading volumes of 1 lakh shares on the NSE while the Henkel Spic scrip recorded a volume of 1.47 lakh shares.

The Crest Communication scrip has been steadily edging up over the past week on accumulation by speculators and institutions. Marketmen attribute the buying interest to huge order bagged the company recently. However, this could not be confirmed with company officials.

Trading on the BSE has been frozen at the weekly settlement circuit of Rs 29.90 which is a new 52-week high for the scrip.

On the NSE, trading in the scrip was frozen yesterday at a new 52-week high of Rs 30.20 , with 50,100 shares changing hands. The Balrampur Chini scrip lost ground marginally at the bourses despite posting a net profit figure of Rs 42.96 crore for the year ended March 98.

The market attributed the fall to unwinding of speculative positions at the counter in anticipation of the results.

On the BSE, the scrip closed at Rs 166.50, down Rs 5 over the previous close while on the NSE the scrip closed at Rs 167.90 down Rs 5 over the previous close.