Aftek and Lupin shares manipulated by Ketan says Sebi
New Delhi: According to the interim report released by the securities and Exchange Board of India on the stockmarket there is prima facie evidence of manipulation in scrips of Aftek Infosys and Lupin Labs by Ketan Parekh and entities.
The Sebi interim report, while documenting the activities of the prominent accused like Ketan Parekh, Nirmal Bang, Shankar Sharma, R S Damani, Global Trust Bank, CSFB, also has several other interesting details to offer.
Sebi says that it has found details of transactions that were manipulative in nature placed by leading FII broker, J M Morgan Stanley.
The report says the role of J M Morgan Stanley was being examined, and that some of the transactions could have impacted the decline in scrips being examined.
Another major finding of the report is that the exchange surveillance mechanism could not properly detect excessive concentrations in the market.
Another angle that Sebi is examining is whether some entities introduced by Palombe Securities,(a link between Shankar Sharma and Nirmal Bang) for trading through Consortium Finance and Nirmal Bang, were actually front entities for other market operators.
Sebi is also probing the role of Delhi’s largest broking house BLB Securities, on whom, according to the report, there are indications of manipulative intent to depress prices.
The report has also found prima facie evidence of a link between Vidyut Investments, a subsidiary of Ranbaxy, and Ketan Parekh.
The links Sebi is establishing are that the main short seller, Shankar Sharma, acted through another short seller Nirmal Bang, and not through his own entities. The latter the Sebi report says acted with the intention of depressing prices and also indulged in collusive trades. He also had substantial dealings through Consortium Securities of Param Kalra and also through an unregistered entity named Palombe Securities, which amounts to market manipulation.
There is further evidence that Shankar Sharma and Nirmal Bang having very heavy net sales positions in several scrips like Global Tele, Satyam, Zee, RIL and HFCL.
Sharma also pressed naked short sales in Wipro, SSI and Sterlite Optical, which had the effect of depressing prices.
Shankar Sharma, said to be the king pin of the short selling operation, has been found guilty of indulging in transactions with the intent of depressing prices of some scrips, which impacted the market trend.
The report has also indicted Ketan Parekh for manipulating the market and creating an artificial market in certain key scrips like HFCL, Zee, DSQ Software, Global Tele.
Back to News Review index page  

FII buying lifts Sensex up 8 points
Mumbai: Sentiments on the stock markets rebounded on Tuesday primarily on buying by the foreign institutional investors.
Sentiments at the opening session were bearish leading to the benchmark of both the premier bourses, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), falling by around 90 points from yesterday’s close.

During the day’s trading, however, it gained momentum backed by the FII and institutional buying that finally saw the indices up, although marginally.
The Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty recovered by 157 and 49 points respectively from their intra-day low levels.
One of the reasons for the speedier recovery in the market after opening weak was Sebi’s move to do away with the circuit filters, which appears to have been welcomed by the market.
The Sensex opened sharply lower by about 90 points at 3480.42 as compared to Monday’s close of 3568.93 and slipped another 60 points downwards at 3420.14 which happened to be the day’s lowest level but started picking up soon before the mid-session and touched the day’s high of 3579.35 before closing at 3576.96 netting a gain of 8.03 points.
Nifty followed the suit and recovered 49.05 points and closed with a minor gain of 4.50 points at Rs 1145.30. u
Trading volumes at BSE perked up sharply on Tuesday and the exchange registered a turnover of Rs 1351.16 crore as compared to Monday’s turnover of Rs 1015.54 crore. With the only exception of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), all the top active stocks in the list were from the new economy sector.
Carrier Aircon was once again in the limelight on back of continuous buying from all quarters and the stock was locked further in the 16 per cent upper circuit at Rs 85.55, nearing its open offer price of Rs 100. Sterlite Optical counter also remained volatile with the stock rising 16 per cent intra-day after losing 8 per cent first at Rs 356.50 and then closing at Rs 418.40.
Thomas cook, Saw Pipes, ICICI Bank and TVS Suzuki also remained in the limelight with all these counters registering a gain of more than 8 per cent.
Satyam Computers remained the most active stock value-wise at Rs 198.92 crore with 89.22 lakh shares changing hands ahead of its ADS listing. RIL was second with the counter clocking a turnover of Rs 138.75 crore and 38.08 lakh shares traded on the BSE. The other most active counters included Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Global Telesystems and Zee Telefilms.
Back to News Review index page  

Writ petition filed by shareholder GR open offer
Mumbai: A minority shareholder of German Remedies (GR) has filed a writ petition with the Bombay High Court urging it to direct the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to make inquiries into the open offer made by acquirer Zydus Cadila.
Zydus Cadila, on April 10, had announced the acquisition of a 27.72 per cent stake in the Mumbai-based German Remedies (GR) at Rs 650 per share from Asta Medica AG and Heller Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH.
An open offer to acquire a further 20 per cent shareholding from the public through Recon Healthcare (Zydus Cadila’s wholly-owned subsidiary) at Rs 650 per share was made in line with the takeover code on April 17.

Sources say that the minority shareholder has raised the issue, that even though the two other suitors in the fray for German Remedies — Pharmacia and Bristol Myers Squibb — had offered higher prices for the proposed buyout, the deal swung in Cadila’s way at Rs 650 per share, backed by simultaneous offer for the "perpetual rights" to five Asta brands for Rs 52.6 crore.

The five brands in question are Deriphyllin, Paractol, Ildamen, Xipamid and Beta Xipamid.
Industry sources say that both other contenders in the fray for GR — Pharmacia and Bristol Myers Squibb — had offered roughly Rs 850 per share and Rs 800 per share respectively to the German firms, though an official confirmation could not be obtained.
Though Zydus’ offer works out to around Rs 875 on a per share basis, the open offer to the Indian minority shareholders had been made at Rs 650 per share.

Sebi board member Prof JR Varma said that the market regulator would hear both the complainant (the shareholder who has filed a complaint) and the acquirer (Zydus Cadila).
Back to News Review index page