NHPC plunges 24% with unusual volumes

On Monday it was the turn of NHPC to face the music at the bourses. After hitting an intra-day low of Rs 18.15 on the NSE on Monday, the stock closed at Rs 19.7, falling 24 per cent over Friday’s close. Even on Friday, it fell about 5 per cent on the NSE. Monday’s fall was accompanied by heavy volumes with 25.87 crore shares changing hands on the NSE, of which 38.5 per cent was up for delivery, indicating some value buying too at lower levels. On the BSE, another 9.85 crore shares changed hands. The mini-ratna company has clarified to the exchanges that “as far as fundamentals of the company go, there is no change that affects the major price movement. In our opinion, there is no issue in the Finance Bill which has any adverse effect on the hydro sector.”'

But the midday clarification failed to arrest the slide, as the fall accelerated towards close.

Arun Kejriwal of KRIS Securities said: “One should not view the NHPC saga in isolation.”

According to him, a lot of mid-cap stocks have been at the receiving end. “Though several reasons, such as pledged shares getting diluted, poor corporate governance track record and margin call pressure at brokerages have been attributed, these steep falls suggest something bigger,” he said.

“There could be a nexus between operators and NBFCs that mark up or down the stocks. After this episode, many of them may not come back to the market in the near term,” he added.

A.B.L. Srivastava, Director (Finance), NHPC, told Business Line: “We ourselves are surprised. The sudden fall in stock price is a matter of concern, when no fundamentals have changed. As a company, we are open and transparent,” he said.

“We have asked for party-wise transactions for trading on Friday and today (Monday). It is not routine information. We will get the information in a couple of days and maybe then a firm cause can be determined.”

badrinarayanan.ks@thehindu.co.in

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