New Delhi, February 2: Shares of PC Jeweller came under heavy selling pressure today, crashing nearly 60 percent in intra-day trade, but later recovered most of the lost ground after management's commentary that "the fundamentals of the company remain strong". The stock faced severe drubbing amid sharp fall in the shares of Vakrangee Ltd, which had purchased shares of PC Jeweller late last month.

The stock of PC Jeweller tanked 24.40 percent to end at 365.60 on BSE. During the day, it plummeted 59.65 percent to Rs 195.10. On NSE, shares of the company plunged 24.78 percent to close at Rs 364.25. The company's market valuation also fell by Rs 4,653.37crore to Rs 14,417.63 crore.

"Promoters have not sold any shares. Our fundamental is strong," PC Jeweller, MD, said Balram Garg. Asked whether scrip has fallen due to the acquisition of shares by Vakrangee, Garg said, "We have not sold any shares to them. Vakrangee has bought from the secondary market and how can we stop it."

Vakrangee's stake in PC Jeweller would be less than a half percent, he added. In terms of equity volume, 144.27 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 12 crore shares changed hands on NSE during the day. The stock has been falling for four consecutive days, down 35.14 percent.

According to media reports, Vakrangee is being probed by Sebi for possible stock manipulation. Shares of Vakrangee tanked 10 percent to Rs 263.10 on BSE today. The stock has been falling for five days. BSE had sought clarification from PC Jeweller earlier in the day with reference to decrease in price.

In a clarification to BSE, the company said, "We would like to clarify that we make timely disclosures of all the events, information etc that have a bearing on the operation/performance of the company which include pricesensitive information etc.

"Further, we wish to clarify that presently the company is not having any such information, which requires disclosureas aforesaid. The company is not aware of the reason for the sudden decrease in price of equity share of the company today. However, we would like to assure our investors, shareholders, etc that the fundamentals of the company remain strong, the filing said.

"We affirm that none of our promoters have diluted stake in the company and none of their shares are pledged ascollateral with any institution," it added. Vakrangee Ltd had on January 25 purchased 20 lakh shares of PC Jeweller for a little over Rs 112 crore through an openmarket transaction. Vakrangee Ltd is a technology company based in Mumbai, that provides banking, insurance, e-governance, e-commerce, and logistics services. The bulk deal data available with NSE showed that Vakrangee bought 20 lakh shares, amounting to 0.51 per centstake in the jewellery major.