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Tania Kishore Jaleel

Mumbai, Oct. 23 With the stock markets hitting new lows, the number of bulk/block deals reported on a daily basis has also seen a sharp decline.

On an average, about 53 deals were reported on the BSE between September 1 and September 23, this number has fallen to 25 in October so far.

The NSE, too, has witnessed a similar decline. On an average, from September 1 to September 23, 38 deals were reported on the NSE daily. This number has plunged to 13 in October.

Marketmen attribute this to the overall fall in volumes, as traders lost interest trade in the falling market.

The Sensex has fallen more than 50 per cent in the last 10 months and volumes have dropped more than 40 per cent between January and September this year.

A total of 1,231 deals were reported on the BSE between September 1 and September 23, whereas, this number has dropped to 568 in October. This is a fall of 54 per cent.

Marketmen say the fall in proprietary trade has resulted in the decline of bulk deals that take place on the bourses. “A lot of the deals used to be transacted through the proprietary trade route,” said Mr Prashant Bhansali, Director at Mehta Equities.

In September, proprietary traders were net buyers of equity by Rs 164.88 crore. In October they have become net sellers to the tune of Rs 95 crore, which is a decline of 43 per cent.

Mr Bhansali said that most of the bulk deals that take place these days are not substantial enough for disclosure on the bourses.

“A lot of the bulk deals that used to take place were between funds and now a lot of these funds have become inactive, which could be another reason why the number of bulk deals is shrinking.”

On the NSE, a total of 876 bulk deals were reported between September 1 and September 23.

This number has fallen to 302 in October, which is a 66 per cent decline.

“As lot of the investors’ portfolios are stuck at high levels this has brought down the buying, which is another reason the fall in the number of bulk deals,” said Ms Anita Gandhi, Head of Institutional Business, Arihant Capital Markets.

Mr Bhansali added that there was a lot of shifting of positions between the P-Notes, which resulted in a rise in the number of bulk deals last month. “In the month of October this has been rarely happening.”

On Thursday, a total of 17 bulk deals were disclosed on the BSE. And on the NSE, there were only five.

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