BOMBAY, 15 July — On Monday the sentiments were weak. There was mostly wide spread selling on almost all the counters. IT stocks took a harsh beating after the sharp fall witnessed on the US markets on Friday.
Moreover, there were torrential rains in Mumbai bringing the city to a virtual standstill. And due to this, there was very poor attendance in most of the offices and this affected the volumes adversely due to low investor participation.
The BSE was down by 14.97 points to 3,290.81. The NSE shed 5.60 points to settle at 1,059.50.
One of the biggest losers of the day was Zee Tele, the scrip saw a lot of selling amid concerns over the company’s efforts to recover the money it lent to its investment arms to acquire stakes in a couple of media companies.
Infosys Technologies declined on selling pressure ahead of the announcement of its quarterly results.
With international prices of steel coming down, Tata Steel saw a lot of selling.
In banking stocks, Corporation Bank was up after it announced that it will allot 24 million shares to Life Insurance Corporation at Rs.196 per share.
After the lackluster trading on Monday, the markets seemed to have firmed up on Tuesday.
The BSE was up by 37.46 points at 3,328.27. The NSE gained 12.55 points to settle at 1,072.05.
Ranbaxy posted its Q2 results on Monday.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2001, the domestic pharmaceuticals major posted a 22.03 percent rise in net profit to Rs.493 million.
Meanwhile, Infosys Technologies declined sharply toward the close of the session. The stock was in the positive zone for the better part of the session after the company announced its Q1 results, which were in line with market expectations. For the quarter ended June 30, 2001, the company posted a 50 percent rise in net profit to Rs.1,900.3 million (Rs.1,267.9 million) on sales of Rs.6,260.1 million (Rs 3,706.4 million).
Two wheeler major, Bajaj Auto saw selling after the company announced that it will reduce working days to five from six at its Akurdi plant owing to the general slow down in the economy, the changing preference of customers from scooters to motorcycles, and the onset of the monsoon and consequent sluggishness in the demand for scooters.
VSNL moved up after the company announced a dividend of Rs.50 per share (500 percent), which includes a special dividend of Rs.40 per share (400 percent).
On Wednesday, the markets continued to remain in the positive due to renewed buying support in tech stocks. The sentiment had turned bullish after the impressive Q1 results of tech majors like Infosys Technologies, Hughes Software and Satyam Computer. However, the undertone was cautious following the ongoing UTI’s US-64 crisis.
The BSE ended the day with a gain of 47.94 points at 3,376.21. And the NSE gained 11.60 points to settle at 1,083.65.
Satyam Computer rose toward the close of the session after announcing impressive Q1 results.
Colgate also up after the company announced that its board was meeting on July 18, 2001 to consider a special dividend.
Zee also saw some buying following the success of the blockbuster film ‘Gadar’, which has been produced by it. It is estimated to rake in Rs.500 million from the domestic and international markets.
Telecom stocks were down.
For the third consecutive day, on Thursday, the markets once again posted gains.
Renewed buying in new and old economy stocks lifted the BSE by 76.54 points to 3,452.75.The NSE rose by 21.85 points to settle at 1,105.50.
Following the impressive results of IT companies, there was buying seen in most of the tech stocks.
ACC was also up after the company announced its Q1 results wherein it posted a net profit of Rs.439.5 million as against a loss of Rs. 95 million in the previous Q1.
Cadbury India sweetened the day further with its Q2 results wherein it posted a 23.10 percent rise in net profit to Rs.87.9 million.
On Friday, though the markets had gained higher levels during the day, it shed its gains following selling pressures.
The BSE ended the day with a marginal gain of 1.24 points, closing the week at 3,453.90.
The NSE gained 0.85 points to settle at 1,106.35.
Selling was seen on most of the IT stocks like Infosys, Satyam, NIIT. Old economy stocks like Reliance Industries, Telco, Tata Steel, HPCL and Bajaj Auto were also big losers.
Of the 1,515 issues traded, declines outnumbered advances with 790 losers and 543 gainers. 182 issues remained unchanged.
For the coming week, the markets are expected to remain steady and bargain hunters are expected to step in to buy stocks which are currently at attractive valuations.
Gold was at Rs. 4,380 per 10 gms and Silver was at Rs. 7,280 per Kg.
US dollar vis-a-vis Indian rupee was at Rs.47.16, pound sterling at Rs.66.22, Deutsche mark at Rs.20.55, euro at Rs.40.19, UAE dirham at Rs.12.84, Kuwait dinar at Rs.153.17, Bahrain dinar at Rs.125.09, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.97, Qatar riyal at Rs.12.57 and Oman riyal at Rs.122.49.