HYDERABAD: Shares of Jet Airways on Thursday became a punching bag for traders; it touched 52-week low on BSE and 10-year low on NSE. With the airline temporarily shutting operations and given that the bidding process will likely conclude only in second week of May, traders who held onto Jet’s scrip all along despite evident signs of a long, slow grind, eventually lost cool Thursday, sending it to a free fall.
Intraday, the scrip plunged 34.62 per cent to touch a 52-week low of Rs 158.10, but settled eventually at Rs 163.90, 32.23 per cent below its previous close on BSE. On NSE, they sank 31 per cent to close at Rs 165.75. A total of 60.41 lakh shares were traded on BSE and over 5 crore shares on NSE. In all, Jet’s market valuation eroded by more than Rs 1,000 crore to settle at Rs 1,862 crore on BSE.
Thursday’s free fall is a departure from the recent trend. Shares rose about 10 per cent in the past six months, while over 10,000 retail investors bought Jet’s shares on hopes of a turnaround. Jet’s lenders said in a statement that they were reasonably hopeful of a successful bidding process for stake sale. The binding bids from prospective investors are expected to come in by April 30.
Curiously, foreign portfolio investors, who are extremely sensitive to uncertainties, increased their exposure to Jet Airways in the just-concluded March 2019 quarter. As per the company’s latest shareholding pattern, FPI’s stake rose from a negligible 1.47 per cent to 3.10 per cent. With Jet grounding operations until it finds a new investor, it remains to be seen if there will be a flight of FPI capital this quarter.