All eyes riveted on Anil Ambani as he walked up beaming to sound the gong sharp at 0955 hrs at the BSE yesterday. It was an auspicious day. It was Basant Panchami there in Mumbai, and Saraswati Puja here in Kolkata.
At Anil Ambani’s signal the shares of Reliance Power started trading at the bourses. No sooner the sound waves of the gong vanished in the thin air, the riveted eyes instantly shifted to the computer screens. The magic would now unfold.
But alas it was a different magic altogether.
The scrip began well but soon crashed. No amount of pre-issue hype and the frenzied subscription to the IPO could sustain the selling pressure. The myth that a Reliance share can never fail came undone.
The worse then followed. Sensex crashed 834 points by the end of the day, the 3rd steepest fall after the two that happened only last month.
Many small-time investors who chose the Reliance Power IPO to debut in stock trading will find the ground shaking under their feet. Quite a few analysts felt that the unused refunds from the IPO will find way to fresh buying of the stocks in the secondary market.
But that hope seems to have waned. The stock prices are tumbling like ninepins. According to S&P, Indian stocks lost 16% value in January making the market the 4th biggest loser in the world.
Veterans who do not lack wisdom find the present situation lucrative to build fresh low-cost high-value portfolio for the long run. Few small investors share that optimism.
But this is not new. This has happened many times before, and each time this happens, the smart guys go picking the cherries for future feast.
Meanwhile, here is a video of today’s headlines that scream about the crash in unison.
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