BOMBAY, 28 October — On Monday the BE Sensex closed at 3,001.86 and the NSE at 976.40. The Reserve Bank of India announced its policy for 2001-2002 which buoyed banking stocks. Tech stocks gave up their gains in the session on profit-booking. In the credit policy, RBI initiated a 2 percent cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) to 5.5 percent and a 0.5 percent cut in bank rate to 6.5 percent.

Cipla fell after it declared its results for quarter ending Sept. 30, posting a 16.82 percent rise in net profit to Rs.604.3 million, much below expectations. NIIT announced results for Q4 ending Sept. 30, 2001 with a 86.23 percent drop in net profit to Rs.125.1 million.

On Tuesday the BSE closed at 3,061.91 and the NSE at 993.20. Old Economy stocks ruled firm. Meanwhile FIIs continued buying.

Profit-booking was seen in Digital GlobalSoft, Polaris Software, GTL. Zee Telefilms results for the quarter ending Sept. 30 — a 7.64 percent drop in net profit to Rs.296 million.

On Wednesday the BSE closed at 3,040.16 and the NSE at 991.20. For FY 2002, Satyam expects growth in income from software services from 30 percent to 33 percent in dollar terms.

OPM is expected to be from 32 percent to 33 percent. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories soared to Rs.1,079.65. L&T slipped nearly 4 percent to Rs.164.80. It announced a 224 percent rise in Q2 net profit to Rs.404.6 million, below market expectations.

On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,022.16 and the NSE at 983.20. After hours, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) raised the annual ceiling on creeping acquisition of shares by promoters from 5 percent to 10 percent. This will be available until March 31, 2001 and will be reviewed.

All Tata group companies will now be candidates for creeping acquisition.

Hindustan Lever (HLL) fell 1.4 percent to Rs. 211.30. The stars were ICICI and ICICI Bank.

ICICI plunged sharply to Rs.52.60 with news that the merger ratio was 2 shares of ICICI for every one of ICICI Bank. This news boosted the shares of ICICI Bank to Rs. 106.25.

On Friday the markets were closed.

Gold was at Rs. 4,590/- per 10 gms and silver at Rs. 7,305/- per Kg.

US dollar was at Rs.48.01, pound sterling at Rs.68.46, Deutsche mark at Rs.21.91, euro at Rs.42.80, UAE dirham at Rs.13.07, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.156.70, Bahraini dinar at Rs.127.32, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.80, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.18 and Omani riyal at Rs.124.69.