Jitters in overseas markets sent the domestic bourses crashing twice in the past eight days, but foreign investors were busy grabbing stocks here seeing attractive buying opportunities after the 1,000-point plunge.
Some big names of the FII clan, including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, purchased stocks worth over Rs 676 crore between July 27 and August 1, when the market recorded its two biggest crashes of this fiscal.
Interestingly, most purchases were recorded on these two days only, even as the overall market sentiment was bearish following the 542 and 615-point fall in the benchmark Sensex.
An analysis of the bulk and block deals recorded on the stocks exchanges shows that foreign funds purchased shares worth Rs 676.32 crore in the period when the Sensex tanked over 1,000 points in two routs between July 27 and August 1.
Besides, the funds are believed to have purchased additional stocks in smaller quantities, but their exact estimates could not be known. Bulk deal refers to trading in a company's shares for over 0.5% of the total shares of the firm listed on the exchange.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Crashes let big FIIs grab shares worth Rs676cr
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
I-banks traded as junk on risk fears
On Wall Street, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs Group are as good as junk.
Bonds of US investment banks lost about $1.5 billion of their face value this month as the risk of owning the securities increased the most since at least October 2004, according to Merrill indexes. Prices of credit-default swaps based on the debt imply that their credit ratings are below investment grade, data compiled by Moody’s Investors Service show.
The highest level of defaults in 10 years on subprime mortgages and a $33 billion pileup of unsold bonds and loans for funding acquisitions are driving investors away from debt of the New York-based securities firms. Concerns about credit quality may get worse because banks promised to provide $300 billion in debt for leveraged buyouts announced this year. “The market is being driven by fear,” said Mark Kiesel, who oversees $80 billion of corporate debt at California-based Pacific Investment Management, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund.
Read more in The Economic Times