The Hindu Business Line : Bank stocks shine on positive policy hopes

Dealers said there was across-the-board buying in bank stocks, both in private and public sector. The revived interest in the sector was on expectation of some positive announcement from the Government. The market expects policy announcements on merger & acquisitions in the sector. This prompted buying in shares of banks that are likely to see M&A action post this policy announcement.

These include Bank of Punjab, Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, IDBI Bank, Dena Bank and others. Active interest in the sector was also seen from BSE's Bankex Index, which gained 4.03 per cent the highest gain among all the indices of BSE.

Seen as value pick

SEVERAL investors who find Gujarat NRE Coke an overvalued stock or are not able to buy it due to varied reasons are accumulating the stock of FCGL Industries. This company holds over 43 lakh shares or 9 per cent of the company's equity.

This company is one of the entities associated with the promoters of Gujarat NRE Coke.

Dealers said some investors have identified the stock as a value pick compared with Gujarat NRE Coke. Their argument is that the market cap of FCCL Industries based on current market price is Rs 18.5 crore while the total value of its holding in Gujarat NRE Coke is over Rs 75 crore.

In addition, the company paying regular dividend (last year 12 per cent) is also attracting these investors.

However, on Thursday, the stock closed lower at Rs 37.05, down 1.98 per cent, with volumes of 3150 shares.

Brand image boosts interest

TEXTILE company Garden Silk Mills on Thursday attracted a lot of investors. This led to the stock gaining 10.97 per cent at Rs 62.70 on the BSE with volumes of 91,142 shares; on the NSE, it closed at Rs 62.15, up 10.29 per cent, with volumes of 1.42 lakh shares.

Dealers said several investors have started picking up the stock on expectation of major benefit to the company due to lifting of textile quota.

Moreover, the popularity of Garden brand in the domestic market is also a factor for the interest in the stock.

The talk is that several institutional investors have shown interest in the stock in the last few days. Some funds, which have recently launched mid-cap funds, are interest in the stock.

Virendra Verma

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