Satyam Computer was at the forefront of tech gains on Monday on bottom-fishing by FIIs.

As a result, the scrip of the software major jumped 4.40% to Rs 150.55 by 12:40 IST. By then, it had recovered from its intra-day low of Rs 144. Good volumes of over 38.95 lakh Satyam Computer shares changed hands despite the weak market.

In the seven sessions between 7 and 17 April 2003, the scrip of Satyam Computer was weighed down by concerns over the company's results after the disappointment from Wipro and Infosys, losing 26% to Rs 144.40 from Rs 195.45.

Bottom fishing seems to be taking place on the counter now after the sustained fall in earlier sessions. But after IT educator and software maker NIIT's decent performance, there's new hope that Satyam Computer may not fail analysts as well. Satyam Computer unveils its fourth quarter results on 24 April 2003.

As per market rumours, Birla Sun Life, a US-based hedge fund (not named) and Government of Singapore were buying on the Satyam counter today. C L Securities and UTI were selling in contrast.

For the fourth quarter, analysts expects Satyam Computer to register a rise in net profit of 1.5-6.8% to Rs 117-123 crore (Rs 1.17-1.23 billion) on a 15-20% increase in net sales to Rs 527-549 crore (Rs 5.27-5.49 billion).

Analysts caution that Satyam's results may not prove exemplary and that the current buying may be based on speculation. As apointer, Infosys and Wipro have already turned out disappointing performances due to the pressure on billing rates. The future guidance of Satyam Computer is also not expected to be inspiring.

For the third quarter (ended 31 December 2002), the company had disappointed the market by

BSE code: 500376