• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Rumours that the merger ratio has been finalised saw the stock of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) move sharply on Monday on the bourses. According to the market grapevine, the merger ratio (of IOC-IBP Company) has been fixed at 2:1, i.e. for every two shares of IOC you get one share of IBP.

Analysts maintain that balance sheet valuations peg it to around 1.5, but add brand value etc and it works out to two. The stock of IOC ended at Rs 382.90, up 6.15 per cent, with around 3.7 lakh shares traded on the BSE. IBP ended the day at Rs 519.05, up 0.86 per cent, with around 64,773 shares traded on the BSE.

Block deal spurs MTNL volumes

Early trades saw the counter of MTNL witness a block deal of around 12 lakh shares on the BSE. As per market talk, the deal was by DSP Merrill Lynch and was an inter-scheme transfer between its funds. While the stock lost ground by almost two per cent pricewise on the bourses on Monday, it did, however, witness huge volumes.

With the Government having ruled out the merger of MTNL with BSNL, the stock bounced back into the limelight on the bourses on account of a huge tax refund (around Rs 1,500 crore - Rs 2,000 crore) that it is to get post-winning an appeal over tax payments on licence fees last month.

There was some speculation that the counter may have lost ground following the company announcing nominal growth in its first quarter results. Brokers, however, said the numbers were in line with market expectations and as such had been already been discounted.

MTNL ended the day at Rs 133.85, down 1.91 per cent, with around 17.90 lakh shares traded on the BSE. On the NSE, the stock ended at Rs 133.90, down 1.83 per cent, with around 12.95 lakh shares traded.

Reliance driven by gas find buzz

The rumour mill appeared to be spinning overtime on the Reliance counter. This time around the market was awash with talk of another gas find in the Krishna Basin which seemed to be just what operators needed to shore up volumes at the counter.

Brokers maintain that the stock has run up by almost 14 per cent over the last 4-5 trading sessions. There was also speculation in the market that the promoters themselves were active at the counter.

The stock ended at Rs 477.60, up 2.45 per cent, with around 43.65 lakh shares traded on the BSE.

Deeptha Rajkumar

More Stories on : Stock Markets | Ear to the ground

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
AstraZeneca not to be delisted as parent rejects exit price

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line