MC Insider: Stock influencers fight, brokerage learns a hard lesson, spotlight on scamsters and more

A Sebi-registered finfluencer who claims to look at movements of planets, moons and stars to trade in the market rather than technical charts was at the centre of attention this week. Reason: another influential trader criticised his approach, leaving him miffed. The astro trader is now preparing to send a legal notice to the second trader. Meanwhile, the second trader said he is waiting impatiently for the notice so that he can shut the first guy’s shop in court. Well … we suggest you get the popcorn and watch events unfold as we will keep you updated.

Last year when the market was volatile, a brokerage house was being proven wrong every time it set a new lower target for Nifty. Whenever it downgraded the target, the market started moving higher. So much so that some apparently started waiting for the broker to publish reports—calling it and leading indicator—to take bullish reversal trades. Now, singed a few times, the lead research analyst of the broker has learnt his lesson, it seems. Now he is “more balanced” in his target setting for Nifty, he said.

Unabashed, the IPO grey market is in the spotlight throughout the year. It has spread its wings across the country, with some cities taking a large pie of the trading volumes. We hear that operators of one such city are not too respected in the market. IPOs of companies based out of this city see sky high GMPs (grey market premium) when they are announced, only to fall flat by the listing date. "The operators pump prices, which take a sharp turn at the last moment." Any guesses?

With scamsters being more active on social-media, are regulators planting more eyes on the channels too? A recent development suggests so. In an unconventional move, a few brokerages were directed by exchanges to send out mails to investors asking them to keep away from certain bad actors in the market. The mails sent out from exchanges to investors give names and numbers of people who are selling stock tips or investment advisory services, though they are not registered to do so, and of people who offer money-management services though they don’t have the licence to do the same. This isn’t usual practice but, as someone connected with an exchange told us, with many investors coming online after the pandemic and scamsters targeting them with advertisements on social-media handles, exchanges who are also frontline regulators are keeping their eyes peeled.

If you have followed the saga of the stake sale of one public sector bank, you would agree teenage romances see better success rates. But things may be finally looking up for this lender. After being jilted multiple times, there seems to be some interest from suitors if the government has to be believed. We hear a couple of private equity funds are re looking at the lender after having been pursued by the government last year.
But bankers aren’t holding their breath on this one. “It is a Swayamwar we have seen before. This time the bank is dressed up better, but there is no conviction in the path to valuation gains here,” he says. Despite a raft of legal and regulatory special allowances for this stake sale, there isn’t much enthusiasm yet. Let’s hope the bride isn’t jilted at the altar this time.

The abrupt exit of a CEO from this fintech company left many in surprise. An agency was given the mandate to find a new face. We hear a number of suitors have lined up for the job in the last few days including executives with NBFC/bank experience. Interestingly one candidate chose to bypass the executive firm and directly applied to the Board hoping to get priority in the list. But rumour has it that the Board promptly passed this application too to the headhunting firm saying it doesn't want to be involved as of now in the process. Of course, there are no shortcuts to become the CEO of such a major player!

If whispers in sarkari corridors are to be believed, this firm seems to have earned a reputation within the power circles, of making tall promises and unfortunately not delivering. The company which is set to launch a key healthcare product this month, allegedly again left the top mandarins in the ministry fuming by backtracking on the timeline after an important announcement was made. It was only after an angry call by the minister himself that the firm’s top brass agreed to pull up their socks and deliver on time!

Gone are the days when CXOs from agencies knocked on their rival agencies’ doors when they had plans to switch jobs. We hear the new trend is that CXOs of bigger agencies are catching up with old pals who are independent. Not just for jobs, but also with offers of partnership and investment proposals. The intent is also to add the entrepreneur tag to their bios, which seems like a solid plan to these adlanders. No longer just "Mad Men". They want to swim with the sharks.