UTI chief climbs down from Point 6000

Small shareholders like Pawan Dharnidharka, however, say that they will not believe in UTI projections as they have already burnt their fingers. “I created a big portfolio after reading UTI’s chief’s comments that the market will cross 6000. I’ve lost heavily since then and many of my shares are trading at a discount,” he laments.

But the UTI chief said the Trust will step up buying in the capital market particularly in the new economy shares as it felt the worst days for the stock market are over. "The bloodbath is over…. the market has bottomed out and the market will now pick up… we intend to step up buying," Subramanyam said in New Delhi.

“The coming winter will be a winter of joy and not a winter of discontent,” he said, adding sunrise industry stocks were looking most attractive.

On being asked about UTI’s specific plans for the market, he said, "We will undertake shuffling of our securities …both old and new economy stocks are looking good…we will do some cherry picking". Some of the shares of the new economy especially in theIT sector remain volatile but some of the IT companies have very strong fundamentals and hence remain good buys, he said.

"This is a good time to buy…UTI will activate buying in the coming season, do some churning of our portfolios…we will sell our stocks at an opportune time," he said.

Subramanyam said that the churning of portfolio did not necessarily imply raising UTI’s exposure to a particular sector. "It would be more of restructuring the folio for better value," he said.

Sensex recovers by 109 pts: Indian stock markets finally reversed the week-long fall in share prices. A fresh bout of buying at mid-session by local institutions and funds followed by hectic short coverings by investors led the benchmark Sensex to bounce back and post a smart gain of 109 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today.

At the final count, the BSE Sensex, breaking the four days string of losses, closed up by 109.20 points or 3.04 per cent at 3702.83 as against yesterday’s close of 3593.63. A sudden positive turnaround was mainly attributed to a revival in technology, media and telecom (TMT) shares which were battered badly for the last several days.

Local institutions and mutual funds reportedly bought heavily tech shareswhich were lying at attractive levels besides giving support to some index-based old-economy counters. As a result, bear operators rushed to cover their short positions on the penultimate day of current account on the BSE leading to widespread rally in equity values.

Sensex resumed slightly lower at 3576.44 and dropped below the 3500 level at 3491.55 following a fall of over 42 points in the techno-laden Nasdaq Composite Index last night. But timely intervention by local institutions pushed up Sensex to close at the day’s high of 3702.83. The BSE-100 index also shot up by 78.68 points at 1881.05 compared with previous close of 1802.37.

TISCO also attracted good buying interest on the company’s announcement of impressive rise of 75.9 per cent in its net profit for the second quarter.In the specified group, 99 counters including 20 index-based scrips registered sharp to moderate gains while 37 shares recorded losses. NIIT and Wipro closed at the upper price band of 16 per cent.

Himachal Futuristic spurted by 138.65 to 1156.95. Infosys Tech rose by 436.50 to 6677.80, Global Tele by 63.25 to 1141.70, Satyam Computer by 36.25 to 343.25, Zee Tele by 12.50 to 316.35, HLL by 4.85 to 177.70, ITC by 6.50 to 749.45, NIIT by 228.35 to 1655.80, RIL by 9.80 to 308.10, TISCO by 7.60 to 97.95, Wipro by 306.55 to 2222.65, SSI Ltd by 196.95 to 2150.45 and Aptech by 32.80 to 382.45.

However, BSES declined by 16.60 to 194.35, Bajaj Auto by 19.70 to 292.30, Pentamedia by 18.55 to 368.50, Hindalco by 34.85 to 750.15 and L&T by 2.65 to 155.15.