Despite the rough weather on the bourses, the airline stocks, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet and Jet Airways, have seen buying interest with higher volumes. Reports that Mukesh Ambani is interested in Kingfisher and that the Government will soon announce FDI in the aviation sector seem to have attracted investors.
Even as the BSE Sensex fell about one per cent at 11.30 a.m., Jet Airways gained 4.77 per cent at Rs 356.85 and SpiceJet surged 4.91 per cent at Rs 28.85. Kingfisher Airlines jumped 9.4 per cent at Rs 20.4.
Trading volumes in Jet Air stood at 3.09 lakh shares against the two-week average of 2.57 lakh shares; SpiceJet volumes spurted to 59.17 lakh shares against the two-week average of 41.48 lakh shares. KFA maintained higher volumes at 119.34 lakh shares against the two-week average of 118.41 lakh shares.
According to reports, the Cabinet is likely to soon take a decision on the proposal to allow foreign airlines to pick up stake in domestic carriers, most of which are facing financial crisis.
A series of bulk deals were put on Kingfisher Airlines last week. LKP Merchant Financing sold 43.5 lakh Kingfisher Airlines shares at an average price of Rs 15.42 a share.
Star Investments, in two separate block deals, offloaded 1.28 crore equity shares or 2.22 per cent stake in the airline at an average price of Rs 16.63 (97.5 lakh shares) and 16.55 (30.98 lakh shares). As of February 18, Star Investments held 3.62 crore shares or 6.28 per cent stake in Kingfisher Airlines.
But the exchanges did not disclose the buyers' names. With the company working out restructuring plans, one can expect more shares to change hands.
SpiceJet on Tuesday alloted about 4.3 crore shares to its pomoter Mr Kalanithi Maran to raise Rs 100 crore at a price of Rs 23.18 a piece.