Heard on the street: Sintex dips 7% as MF trims exposure

Basket-selling blamed for market slide

The selloff in benchmark indices in the past two days caught many operators and investors off-guard . Brokers said the slide was accentuated by basket selling of index stocks by some large institutional investors.

Grapevine has it that ‘Kala Patthar’ has been a seller in the past two trading sessions. Many institutional investors have turned cautious about India as inflation refuses to relent , heightening fears that the central bank would raise interest rates faster.

Sintex dips 7% as MF trims exposure

Another institutional shareholder trimmed exposure to Sintex Industries recently . A mutual fund owned by a leading private bank, which held Sintex shares as a trading bet, has been a seller of the stock, of late. The buzz is that ‘Credit Lines’ sold the stock early December, while ‘Tumbleton’ was a buyer.

The stock, which fell over 15% in December amid a broad market selloff, dropped 7.1% to Rs 165.75 on Monday with volumes higher than their two week average. Some analysts are optimistic about the company’s prospects, as its recent acquisition of the New Delhi-based Durha Constructions, which has an order book of Rs 750 crore, would boost revenues.

(Contributed by Harish Rao)