Date:19/06/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/06/19/stories/2004061902501500.htm

Back Little-known counters shine at Lyons Range

Nilanjan Dey

Kolkata , June 18

IT is likely that you have never heard about Nageshwar Investment Ltd. Or, for that matter, Sangotri Constructions and Rohan Finance. To these seemingly little-known companies go the credit of being turnover toppers on Calcutta Stock Exchange, the country's No 2 bourse till a few years ago.

Activity on the CSE has reached a low, with only a few hundred transactions being reported and less than a hundred counters being traded during a normal session. On Thursday, a mere 493 trades took place on the CSE, courtesy deals struck in 72 scrips. These resulted in a turnover of Rs 6.84 crores, an average score based on recent trading history.

As Lyons Range sources indicate, trading on a typical day is almost entirely on account of local interest in a number of small companies, many of which are trading, real estate, investment and financial services outfits controlled by local promoters. The relatively high-turnover stocks include Nageshwar Investment, which on Thursday saw trades in 1.45 lakh shares (or Rs 1.17 crores in value), followed by the likes of Globe Stocks, Sangotri Constructions, Rohan Finance and Offshore Finvest.

Turnover details released by the CSE suggest that these were the day's top five names.

The list, however, also contains such names as Reliance and Tata Motors, which, sources say, still generate some interest among investors in Kolkata. The significant gainers of course are the small-time companies.

On Thursday, these included largely-unfamiliar counters such as Konarak Commerce Industries, RGF Capital Markets and S T Services. However, contrary to what the public may think, not all of these are penny stocks. Konarak Commerce for instance closed the session at Rs 240, up from its previous close of Rs 200.70, a gain of nearly 20 per cent.

A whole lot of others are nevertheless stocks that command very low prices. These include Exim Finance, Twenty-First Century India, TSL Industries - all of which are quoting below Rs 10. Some of the not-so-cheap counters are Star Light Credit (Rs 184), Global Stocks (Rs 81.85), Richfield Financial (Rs 62) and Subhash Capital Markets (Rs 75). Among the more regular entries in the list of better traded companies is the newly-listed Jai Balaji Sponge. The company is quoting around Rs 13 .

It may be mentioned here that odd lot trading on CSE saw five transactions on Thursday, accounted for by trading in 1,650 shares. This led to a turnover of Rs 2.79 lakhs. The CSE index, a basket of 40 shares, closed at 2801.09, up from the opening level of 2792.10.

The exchange, investors maintain, currently sees some interest in banking counters. These include ICICI Bank, Bank of India and UCO Bank. Others like Infosys, Satyam, SAIL, BPCL and HPCL too are traded fairly regularly.