BUYING interest in IT stocks continued on Monday with major interest of the market players in i-flex Solutions. Dealers said that several market players are now shifting their position in the stock over the last few days. These players have also built position in Infosys and Wipro.

The i-flex share was a major gainer among the IT stocks. This was mainly due to huge buy orders at a leading European broking firm. On Monday, the stock price of the company gained 4.85 per cent at Rs 526.40 on the BSE with volume of 85,570 shares and on the NSE it closed at Rs 526.15, up 4.93 per cent with volume of 3.06 lakh shares.

Downtrend in Birla Corp

BIRLA Corporation, a stock that was among the major gainers earlier this month, has been witnessing huge fall over the last few days. On Monday, the stock was among the major losers.

It was down by 11 per cent at Rs 85.80 on the BSE with volume of 3.08 lakh shares and on the NSE it closed at Rs 85.80, down 11.09 per cent, with volume of 3.43 lakh shares.

Dealers said that a leading domestic broking house that had recommended the stock around Rs 60 level last month is believed to be selling the shares. Market talk has it that this broking firm is facing liquidity problem due to the crash in the stock price over last few weeks and the selling in Birla Corporation is aimed at easing the liquidity problem. Some more selling is left in the counter, dealers said.

Banks, PSUs fall

BANKS and PSUs were among the major losers of the day. Talk is that a leading foreign broking firm was heavily selling shares from these sectors through basket trading.

This firm has advised its FII clients to reduce exposure in PSU and bank stocks due to the change in the Government policy. Among the stocks on the sell list are IOB (down 16.83 per cent at Rs 37.30), Canara Bank (down 10.10 per cent at Rs 109.90), UTI Bank (down 9.16 per cent at Rs 107.60). Among the PSU stocks are BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and BHEL.

Virendra Verma

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