UTI crisis, brokers’ strike affect Indian stocks

BOMBAY, 29 July — On Monday the BSE closed at 3,330.98 and the NSE at 1,070.65. Apart from the crisis at UTI, there was a nationwide one-day strike by the brokers protesting the new trading norms such as the ban on carry-forward trading from July 2, 2001. Following this, volumes have shrunk. DSQ Software was frozen on the lower circuit after SEBI barred the company from accessing the capital market for one year. A recent SEBI investigation has revealed that DSQ’s acquisition of Fortuna Technologies was not a genuine deal, as the shares obtained were in physical form and not in demat form, as agreed under the deal. DSQ has canceled the acquisition of Fortuna Technologies after complying with other legal requirements. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

On Tuesday, the BSE closed at 3,35.08 and the NSE Nifty at 1,072.55.

One company in the limelight was Telco despite the huge quarterly loss. For the quarter ending June 30, it posted a loss of Rs.989 million (loss of Rs.743.4 million). For the quarter ending June 30, Hindustan Lever posted a 20.92 percent rise in net profit to Rs.3,467.3 million (Rs 2,867.4 million). Reliance Industries was up when the company’s production rose by 7 percent in the first quarter.

Zee Tele was down with reports that SEBI was scrutinizing the funding source of some of its deals. Tata Steel lost because of concerns that the US may slap anti-dumping duties on steel imported from India.

Global Tele-Systems was also down.

VSNL slipped on selling pressure after a consortium of Bharti Enterprises and Singapore Telecom announced late on Monday that it had opted out of a strategic stake in VSNL.

Tata Power declined on reports that the company had invested Rs.7.00 billion in US-64. Bombay Dyeing for Q4 posted a loss of Rs.91.9 million and saw a lot of selling. 

On Wednesday, the BSE closed at 3,301.97 and the NSE at 1,064.20. Zee Tele saw selling after SEBI’s investigations showed that the group had given Rs.5.15 billion to entities linked to the Ketan Parekh group between January 2000 and March 2001. There was selling on most cement counters as normally during monsoon construction activities slow down. 

On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,259.03 and the NSE at 1,053.40.

Glaxo  fell to a new four-year low of Rs. 263.10 in intra-day trades. Reliance Industries also saw selling on fears of large-scale institutional offloading. There is fear in the market over US-64 as RIL is one of the top stocks in the portfolio and there is apprehension that will soon be selling large blocs to meet the redemption pressures.

The BSE announced that it would shift 11 stocks to a more liquid category of listed securities with effect from Aug. 6. The BSE has nearly 5,700 listed stocks. The “A” group has 175 stocks with  the current changes: B1 group 650 and B2 nearly 3,400. There are 1,400 in the Z category.

On Friday, the BSE closed at 3,251.53 and the NSE at 1,051.70. VSNL was down. Tata Chemicals was up. The company reported a net profit of Rs.131.9 million in the April-June quarter compared with a Rs.37.6 million loss a year ago.

Reliance Petroleum was up 1.90 percent at Rs 42.90 on reports that the company had exported 1.4 million tons of petroleum products during the quarter ending June 30.  IFCI was down 3.2 percent at Rs 3.05 after it was reported Moody’s and ICRA have put it on the watchlist in view of the  liquidity crisis it is facing.

Gold was at Rs. 4,380/- per 10 gms and Silver was at Rs. 7,225/- per Kg.  

US dollar stood at Rs. 47.15, pound sterling at Rs. 67.38,  Deutsche mark at Rs. 21.19, euro at Rs. 44.14, UAE dirham at Rs.13.10, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.153.20, Bahraini dinar at Rs.125.12, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.58, Qatari riyal at Rs.12.96 and Omani riyal at Rs. 122.52.