Zee, Rupee Spur Bear Hug

The bourses kicked off weak-kneed and wound up very bearish yesterday. Bellwether Zee Telefilms gave investors and analysts a lot to think about following the revelation of its financials. And then rupee plunged to its all-time

low against the dollar, to make matters worse. The fact that a good number of our software service majors have excellent dollar revenue streams failed to

offset the negativity on the exchange rate front.

Under these circumstances, only the presence of a strong contrarian helps to revive sentiment. With the biggest contrarian of them all enjoying a quiet holiday in a distant land, making a call has become a tough proposition.

 

Zee show

Institutional activity at the Zee Telefilms counter yesterday reflected an interesting trend. While the Big Bull Brokerage executed sell orders of 4,00,000 shares of Zee Telefilms, there were other institutions who read something positive in the latest developments on the company's financials

front. Cross Me Securities and the Asian Brokerage House were buyers at this counter yesterday. Between them, they picked up approximately 6,00,000 shares.

On the company's numbers, some of the well-known participants of the market, who did not wish to be named for obvious reasons, hinted that there could be some accounting jugglery conducted to bring down the tax levies.

The Micro Tech saga

With secondary markets on a tailspin , the need for good quality initial public offerings (IPOs) has become an imperative. Micro Tech is one stock that seems to have attracted a host of `savvy' investors. The company is reported to have developed a large number of products (32 is the figure being touted). And the integrity of Micro Tech's management is being talked about in the same breath as Infosys Technologies. If the company delivers on its early promises, the early birds in this scrip could have a lot of reasons to rejoice.

Foreign funds

With foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remaining net sellers during the early part of this week, speculation continues to be rife about the identity of the sellers. In the absence of a conclusive list, Uncle Sam continues to remain the favourite whipping boy.

Meanwhile, Uncle Sam dumped 5,00,000 shares of State Bank of India in the face of lacklustre performance of the sector. As a result the scrip closed below the psychologically important Rs 200 level.

Elsewhere, Uncle Sam is stated to have evinced interest at the Infosys Technologies counter. However, the extent to which this interest got converted into buying remains a matter of intense speculation.

Also, the identity of the large foreign institutional investor-seller on Monday is becoming clearer. While Infosys witnessed a total sales of around 4,50,000 shares, Mr Exit, true to his reputation, pressed sales of 3,75,000 shares of the same.

What the scrip movements of this week have confirmed is that foreign funds continue to have a major impact on the sentiment.

Crystal gazing

An "intelligent" section of participants is of the view that the market is going through a consolidation phase. This lot is avers that as predicted by senior officials of stock exchanges, volatility would continue to remain at high levels. What this would imply is that the for the short term, the bourses are not for the weak-hearted .With even the so-called pundits getting confused by the goings on, the small investor would be well served to adopt the mutual fund route.