Canara Bank on a high as a Mumbai operator laps it up

The resilience in shares of Canara Bank in the past two weeks, despite it posting a 30% drop in net profit in the March quarter, has baffled many in the market. In a weak market, the stock has risen about 6% since April 28, when the bank announced the results.

Market grapevine has it that a Mumbai-based operator, known usually for his aggressive bearish calls, has been a buyer in the stock. The logic behind the purchases by this operator, as speculated in the market, is not known, but brokers said that the strength in Canara Bank shares has managed to trigger curiosity about the stock’s prospects in the near-term. Some days ago, there was speculation that Rar(e)ing Bull and a leading private mutual fund were aggressively buying illiquid mid-cap bank shares.

Contributed by Nishanth Vasudevan, Reena Zachariah & Harish Rao.