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Aster Silicates recently came out with an IPO of about 50 lakh equity shares at a price of Rs.118 and got listed around 130.While the markets were rangebound, the stock went up 90% before closing at 205.

The stock witnessed 241 bulk deals on NSE, with the total volume exceeding 9.6 crore shares on both the BSE and NSE exchanges.The volumes were 20 times more than its issue size and the total delivered quantity was at 41.3 lakh shares. Today the stock was locked at upper circuit for most of the day at Rs.246, which came off later in the day.

So what's the buzz?
Aster is engaged in the business of manufacturing of sodium silicate, primarily used by the FMCG, tyre and pesticides industry. The financial performance is not much encouraging, as the company's FY10 EPS was Rs. 5 and the book value is Rs. 23.

The PE multiple at current market price works out to 50 times, which is definitely high, as such chemical companies trade about PE of not more than 5. This is yet another case of operator driven mid-cap rush.There have been many such stocks like Resurgere Mines,GSS America, Selmcl, Ackruti city, Thinksoft  driven up by such operators, which are now substantially below the price traded during the listing period.

Sure it can run some more, but this is not the cup of tea for everyone. Buyer Beware !