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MUMBAI, Feb. 22

IN just five days after listing, the market seems to have lost interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd (BTVL) scrip. This was evident from the sharp fall in trading volumes in the first five trading sessions, despite the active participation from institutional investors — both foreign and domestic.

However, the share price more or less remained flat around the issue price. Today, the stock ended weak at Rs 43.30 (Rs 44.15) on the BSE and at Rs 43.40 (Rs 44.35) on the NSE. During the week, the stock moved between a high of Rs 55 and a low of Rs 40.

From the first day of listing, when the volumes were 69.25 lakh shares on the BSE and 1.03 crore shares on the NSE, the volumes fell to 4.10 lakh shares and 7.98 lakh shares respectively.

Dealers said there have been a number of factors for the sharp fall in volumes. First, the RBI cap on foreign investment limit. On Monday, the RBI issued a notification saying that FII investment in the company had touched 47 per cent and further purchases by FIIs had to be approved by the central bank.

``The RBI notification came as a dampener for the market players and this was the key factor for the volumes to come down,'' Mr Arun Kejriwal of KRIS Research said. In addition, the lack of public participation in the IPO also depressed activity in the stock.

A dealer with a domestic broking firm said, ``Though some of the FIIs had exited on the first day of listing itself, the FII holding in the company is still high.'' He said until the small investor participation does not come in, the volume in the counter would remain low.

Analysts feel that the company's competitors such as VSNL and MTNL are still attractively valued compared to BTVL.

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