Shares of Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd (EPL) bounced back with a vengeance, gaining 10 per cent or Rs 24.70 to Rs 271.75 on the BSE this morning.
In a complete about-turn in investor sentiment towards EPL, the stock which for days was finding only sellers and no buyers, had only buyers queuing up.
It is not clear what had acted as a tonic to stop the selling spree the counter had witnessed.
Earlier, Elder Pharma management had said that the Maharashtra-based Ratnakar Bank had offloaded some shares that had been pledged with it by the promoters, leading to the stock hitting a 52-week low of Rs 202.15 on the BSE on May 14 (Tuesday).
But in just two trading sessions, the stock has gained about 35 per cent from its lows.
The counter witnessed a huge trading volume of 2.01 lakh shares on the BSE and there were buy quotes for about 48,700 shares with no sellers. The stock was frozen at Rs 271.75, since it had gained 10 per cent.
Even yesterday, after slipping to a 52-week low of Rs 202.15, it came back strongly to close at Rs 247.05 on the BSE and the positive momentum continued this morning.
The company said that its board of directors on May 14 had decided not to proceed with the amalgamation of Elder Health Care Ltd with itself.
Net sales, net profit
It also came with its year to date results for the 12 months ended March 31, 2013 (the company had earlier notified that its financial year was being extended by three months till June 30, 2013) yesterday showing that its 12-month net sales on a standalone basis had moved up to Rs 1041 crore compared with Rs 982 crore in 2011-12.
Net profit for the 12 months ended March 31, 2013 was about Rs 86 crore against Rs 84 crore in the previous fiscal.
All this may have played a role in changing the investor sentiment. It is also possible that no further selling of pledged shares or shares by other investors took place which helped, apart from stemming erosion in share price, in accelerating the momentum once the stock price turned positive.