The Hindu Business Line : MP Birla group scrips on a sticky wicket

WITH corporate circles abuzz with rumours, following the bizarre will recorded by the late Priyamvada Birla, all eyes in the stock market have turned to the scrips of companies belonging to the M.P. Birla group.

Birla Corp, the flagship, today took a substantial hit; on the NSE, it went down by 8.95 per cent to close at Rs 96.15.

The counter, which had ended the previous session at Rs 105.60, opened at Rs 102 on Wednesday, which was also the day's high. It went down to a low of Rs 95 and recovered to close marginally higher.

The change from the previous close was Rs 9.45. The scrip registered a total traded quantity of 3,71,366 shares.

According to Lyons Range circles, the Birla Corp stock will be followed keenly in the days ahead.

"The market is aware of what has been happening in the (M.P. Birla) group... the price of the scrip may fluctuate depending on further developments," maintained a broking source.

Birla Ericsson, another listed company, closed at Rs 11.20, a decline of 1.75 per cent. It reached the day's high at Rs 11.45 and the low at Rs 11.20. It had ended the previous day at Rs 11.40.

The total traded quantity in this case was 8,665 shares.

The 52-week high and low for the Birla Corp stock are Rs 124 and Rs 29 respectively. The corresponding figures for Birla Ericsson are Rs 32 and 10.

The other listed companies belonging to the group are Universal Cables and Vindya Telelinks.

Universal Cables was down at Rs 16.40 on the BSE on Wednesday from the previous day's Rs 17.25 and Vindhya Telelinks dipped to Rs 33.10 from Rs 36.75.