After having ruled above ₹100 over the last couple of days, the shares of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertiliser (MCF) softened 5.5 per cent to ₹95 on Thursday. A decline in trading volumes may indicate drop in buying intensity.

However, the stock is still ruling higher than the final open offer price of ₹93.60 made by Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals.

Buying trend In a race to acquire the controlling stake in MCF, Zuari Fertilisers & Chemicals (owned by the Adventz group of Saroj Poddar) also made an open offer at ₹81.6 a share.

Open offers from both the entities end on October 17 and the result would be out on November 5.

MCF shares were on an uptrend since September 26, when Deepak Fertilisers offered nearly ₹20 a share higher than the market price. Immediately the shares hit the circuit breaker at ₹88.10 (up 19.95 per cent). In the next two days, the stock breached the ₹100-mark. Trading volumes also increased; from a combined trading volume (BSE and NSE) of about five lakh shares between September 15 and 25, the counter saw an improved volume of about 33 lakh shares on September 26, which further increased to 52 lakh shares on September 29. Since then, the price of the stock has ruled firm but volumes have tapered down. On Thursday, Mangalore Chemicals saw a total of 13.76 lakh shares traded.

Day-trading glamour Though trading volume increased soon after the declaration of open offer on September 26, majority of the shares were not translated into delivery, indicating high day-trading activity. From about 60-80 per cent deliverable volume (in the week prior to the open offer), the delivery percentage declined to 40-45 per cent post open-offer announcement.

Owners

According to the current share holding pattern in MCF, the Deepak Fertilisers group owns 25.3 per cent while the Zuari group has 16.4 per cent stake and the promoters — UB group of Vijay Mallya — controls 22 per cent.

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