BOMBAY, 29 April — On Monday the BSE Sensex closed at 3,587.01. Last-minute selling pressure in pharmaceutical and infotech stocks resulted in the Sensex shedding most of its earlier gains.
In the Old Economy, cement stocks were up because of the Rs.540 billion national highway project. L&T is rumored to have orders from 12 to 15 percent of project.
Tata Tea gained ground. Hindalco also rose due to rising global aluminum prices. Two of the K-10 stocks, HFCL and Global Tele, saw immense buying. Another company which declared its results was SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare. For the year ending March 31, 2001, the company posted a 28.21 percent jump in net profit at Rs.285.4 million on sales of Rs.1,929.6 million.
On the other hand, Kodak India for the quarter ending March 31, 2001, the company posted a net profit of Rs.30.5 million (Rs.120.7 million) on sales of Rs.1,689.1 million (Rs.1,704 million).
Grasim Industries reported an acute water shortage at its Nagda plant in Madhya Pradesh and has begun curtailing operations. Its Chennai plant is also likely to be shut down during the first week of May until the onset of the monsoon.
On Tuesday, the Sensex closed at 3,589.99 and the Nifty at 1,146.70. Hindalco saw a lot of buying because aluminum manufacturers were implementing a price hike of Rs.500 per ton on account of international price increases.
In the pharma sector, Cipla was up. Spirits were high with other global pharma companies withdrawing their case against cheaper AIDS drugs in the South African market.
On the FMCG counter, Hindustan Lever was down after the company posted its quarterly results — net profit of Rs.3,395.3 million (Rs. 2,626.1 million) on sales of Rs.26,425.1 million (Rs.26,140.7 million).
TVS-Suzuki was down with poor quarterly results, a 80.75 percent fall in net profit to Rs.42.3 million.
On Wednesday, the BSE rose to 3,600.83. Volumes remained modest despite the strike in Maharashtra.
Old Economy stocks remained on the buyers’ list with pivotals across sectors like cement, steel and automobiles recording modest to strong gains despite the growth of six infrastructure industries slowing down to 5.3 percent in the fiscal year 2000-2001 from 9.1 percent in 1999-2000.
The automobile two-wheelers stole the show with most two-wheeler companies gaining between 8-16 percent, buoyed by a hike in import duty on completely built units (CBUs) of cars and two-wheelers to 60 percent from 35 percent. Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha announced the hike.
Satyam Computer was the worst performer in frontline software stocks on profit-booking following reports that the ceiling for the scrip had already reached 38 percent, which could limit the scope for further FII purchases on the counter. The scrip fell almost 7 percent to Rs.233.05.
On Thursday, the BSE closed at 3,557.19 and the NSE Nifty at 1,143.75. Some Old Economy stocks, especially automobile scrips, attracted buying support, New Economy stocks lost ground on profit-booking. MTNL was down due to its poor quarterly performance, a 47.12 percent drop in net profit to Rs.3,603.4 million (Rs.6,814.7 million) on an income of Rs.13,413.6 million (Rs.14,964.9 million). Reliance Petroleum was up at a high of Rs.56.35 on reports that it was planning to seek approval for its $1 billion ADR/GDR issue. The proposed foreign offering is to be a part of Reliance Industries’ plan to divest 12 percent of its stake in RPL.
And on Friday, the BSE closed at 3,422.76 and the NSE Nifty Index at 1,101.30. Panicky operators rushed to unwind long positions, pulling down the market sharply.
Profit- booking was seen in scrips that are entering no-delivery period on BSE from next week. Under the new carry-forward mechanism, BLESS, badla or carry-forward for book closure is not allowed and, therefore, any position outstanding on the last day before the no-delivery period has to result in delivery. Of the 1,342 issues traded, declines outnumbered advances with 980 losers and 284 gainers. 78 issues remained unchanged.
Gold was at Rs.4,320 per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.7,435 per kg.
US dollar was at Rs.46.87, pound sterling at Rs.67.58, euro at Rs.42.37, DM at Rs.21.66, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.48, Bahraini dinar at Rs.124.11, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.152.46, Qatari riyal at Rs.12.85, UAE dirham at Rs.12.74 and Omani riyal at Rs.121.53.