Heard on the Street

Cairn scrip down despite crude surge

The recent surge in crude oil prices has brought little cheer to Cairn India shareholders. The stock was among the prominent losers on Thursday, shedding over 5% to close at Rs 195.80 on BSE. With this fall, the stock is down 9% on the week, and 3.5% on the month. Some analysts tracking the stock say it is fairly valued around the current price, and does not offer much of an upside.

But technical factors also seem to be in play. On NSE, over 1.5-crore shares changed hands. While the block deal and bulk deal data on the exchange does not reveal anything, dealers say large chunks of Cairn shares were on offer during the day. Delivery ratio at 67%, or nearly 1-crore shares, on Thursday was unusually high, indicating large-sized deals.

Market buzz is that Orient Global Tamarind, one of the major institutional investors in the stock could be the seller. As on March 31, 2009, Orient Global held 4.97-crore shares in Cairn India, representing 2.6% of the equity capital, though this number could have changed since then.

Promoters back in the ring, call the shots
With the liquidity situation improving, and global investors regaining their risk appetite, some of the Indian promoters feel they are once again in a position to call the shots. A prominent real estate company was in Singapore recently, conducting roadshows to raise funds.

One of the fund managers present at that meeting is said to have asked a few pointed questions, which annoyed the promoters. Rather than placating the fund manager, the company asked him to leave. This is said to have led to a not-so-pleasant war of words, with the fund manager storming out of the hall.

Contributed by Santosh Nair