Fast track
Wipro: Ephemeral gains
THE Wipro stock, which has recovered from levels of around 55 per cent in the last seven trading sessions, may be subject to a high degree of volatility. The possibility of the ADR/GDR offering may have contributed to some of the upside and some gains in
this context may still be in store.
Impact
Nestle: Caught Excelcia, bowled Dabur?
DABUR India's appeal to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, requesting the latter to prevent Nestle India from manufacturing or marketing biscuits, places constraints on the expansion of Nestle's product portfolio. This could act as a dampener on sen
timent towards the Nestle India stock in the near term. Nestle had been contemplating the launch of biscuits under the Milkmaid brand name. Dabur sees this as a competitive threat to its existing joint venture with Nestle under the umbrella of Excelcia F
oods. A more broadbased product portfolio may be crucial to Nestle at a time when its coffee export business has been hit by adverse international markets and also to neutralise volatility on this count over a period of time. The Dabur objections may sty
mie the pace of progress in this regard and also impinge on competitiveness of Nestle's foray in the biscuits business. The Nestle stock trades at Rs. 374.
Sun Pharmaceuticals: Consolidation moves
THE possibility of a consolidation of companies in the Sun Pharmaceuticals fold may lead to firm trends in the stock price. The company has announced that it would consider a merger of its export unit, Sun Pharmaceutical Export Ltd, with itself. The merg
er will be considered at a meeting of the board of directors on April 1. The consolidation may be viewed favourably since it would remove one layer of transactions between the two group companies. The stock may rule be on firm ground in the short term. T
he share trades at Rs. 606.
Global Trust: Seeking above market price
THE plan of Global Trust Bank to place 26 million shares at a considerable premium to the current market price may not lead to any significant improvement in the valuation of its stock. The proposed equity issuance has been approved by the shareholders o
n March 27. The bank has indicated that the price of the shares shall not be less than Rs.84.34, the minimum price determined in accordance with the SEBI guidelines. Though the bank may find institutional investors taking up the offer at this price, this
may not lead to any lasting improvement in the value of its stock.
Stocks
Tech stocks nosedive on Nasdaq jitters
MOST technology stocks fell steeply during the day in reaction to overnight losses at the Nasdaq. The Sensex made a small rebound after it hit its yearly low of 4943.30 to close the day at 5041.08, down by 61.38 points compared to the previous close.
`Old economy' stocks reign
FANCIED IT, media and telecom shares gave way to traditional pivotals at the Calcutta Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Technical Analysis
Downtrend re-triggered
THE index opened with a marginal bull gap of about three points on Thursday. The bulls and the bears played an equal part.
