Number hopes help CESC stock go up
Kolkata: With a negative price-earning ratio, the CESC stock on Wednesday smartly moved up by 10 per cent on the major bourses, a financial daily has reported. According to dealers, the stock is being cornered by a section of market operators. However, brokers are divided in their opinions regarding the reasons for such accumulation. "Over the last couple of months the stock has moved up on various unconfirmed positive news including stake sale," said a dealer at an institutional brokerage. "The talk of Reliance being interested in the company is the latest in the series of unconfirmed news that have been doing the rounds recently," said Devarsh Vakil of Anagram Stockbroking. According to him, expectation of a better result in the second quarter is a more plausible driver of the stock.

However, analysts feel that at today's closing price of Rs 82.60 on the BSE, the stock traded beyond its known fundamentals. On the NSE, the counter finished at Rs 82.40 with a traded quantity of 6.97 lakh shares. Market observers pointed out that debt restructuring is the key to the company's future. "Huge debt burden and its servicing cost have affected its financial health," an analyst added. The other crucial key to the company's future prospect was the claim for a tariff revision. However, this politically sensitive issue, is also mired in a legal tangle. "The capital cost of the Budge Budge thermal plant for calculating the capital base has become a controversial subject itself (which has a bearing on the revision of the tariff). The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission has provisionally fixed the capital cost at Rs 2,075 crore for calculation of the capital base, while the company claimed the cost of the project at Rs 2,681 crore," Vakil added.
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Tata Steel, Satyam active
Mumbai: With the market setting into a correction mode, turnover in derivative segment on the National Stock Exchange dipped to Rs 10,514.35 crore on Wednesday against Tuesday's all-time high turnover figure of Rs 12,519.55 crore, say reports. As on October 21, the cumulative FII positions, as percentage of total gross market position in the derivative segment was 16.01 per cent. According to NSE data, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 25.57 crore on Tuesday. Index futures: It seems like the market is happy in booking profits ahead of Diwali; the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty shed 12.4 points or 0.82 per cent to 1,494.10.

The near-month Nifty October futures closed the day at 1,497.65, a premium of over three points to the Nifty spot close. The October futures had closed at 1,510.70 on Tuesday. Open interest inched up by 1.55 per cent to 26,755 contracts. The unmatched bid-ask data, however, suggests bullish undertone as bid calls were higher than sell side. The Nifty November futures closed above the 1,500-mark at 1,500.15 as against Tuesday's close of 1,514.35 and open interest improved to 2,402 contracts. The farther month December futures closed at 1,505 (1,509.50). Tata Steel was the most active future contracts on individual securities with 16,133 contracts and Satyam Computer was next with 13,045 contracts. Tata Steel closed higher at Rs 342.15 (Rs 335.30) and in premium to the spot close of Rs 340.85.

Open interest, however, slipped by six per cent to 5,577 contracts, signalling that investors are closing positions. The unmatched bid/ask side also indicates a negative signal for the counter as sell side was higher compared with buy calls. The near month Satyam October futures crashed 5.45 per cent to Rs 278.70 (Rs 294.75) ahead of the company's second-quarter results scheduled for Thursday; the underlying equity on Satyam closed at Rs 277.60. Open interest for Satyam October futures improved by over eight per cent to 5,076 contracts. The unmatched bid/ask data, suggests bearish undertone with sell side calls outmatching the buy side by 2.26 times.
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Rupee a bit weak
Mumbai: The rupee on Wednesday closed a paisa weaker at 45.34/35 in its value against the dollar down from Tuesday's close. There was the usual supply of greenbacks from FIIs and NRIs which took the rupee as high as 45.29 intra-day at which the central bank was seen sucking away dollar liquidity. Soon Delhi-based banks started buying dollars on behalf of a corporate. The dollar buying took the rupee to as low as 45.3950 after which it recovered to close a few paise higher.
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