BOMBAY, 16 December — A shot in the arm is the news of India’s forex position which is at a new high of $47,109 million. This week also saw the signing of the deal between Zee Tele and AOL Turner. It will be a joint venture with Zee holding 74 percent and AOL 2the remainder.
On Monday, the BSE closed at 3,442.89. HPCL was up to Rs.159.30. The Tata watch-making company, Titan Industries, rose amid talks of the company considering the de-merger of its jewelry division. Tata Tea gained following the government’s decision to allow futures trading in tea within the next eight months.
ABB rose further on reports of an increase in its stake by Swedish parent ABB from 50.99 percent to 52.11 percent.
On Tuesday the BSE closed at 3,419.13.
Tech stocks were battered while automobile pivotals gained on sustained buying interest and cement stocks lost ground. Cadbury India was steady at Rs.483.25 after the company’s UK-based parent announced an open offer to the shareholders of its Indian subsidiary to buy out the remaining 49 percent for Rs.500 per share. Sterlite Industries ended with gains after the Supreme Court upheld the company’s acquisition of the government’s 51 percent stake in Balco.
On Wednesday the BSE closed at 3,412.15.
Most Old Economy stocks lost ground after reports came in of the continued slump in the industrial output in October following an overall demand slowdown that hit the capital goods and manufacturing sectors. Industrial output growth slipped to 1.9 percent in October from 6.8 percent a year ago. Growth in the first seven months of FY 2002 also slowed to 2.2 percent compared with 5.9 percent a year ago.
Castrol was a major gainer of the day following shareholders approval for the merger of Tata-BP at an extraordinary general meeting held in Bombay.
Sandvik Asia was also a gainer following the parent’s open offer to buy out the remaining 10.72 percent stake at Rs.850 per share.
On Thursday there was panic selling following the terrorist attack on parliament and the BSE closed at 3,389.
There was all round selling in the most of the sectors. These include software, media, telecom, cement, FMCG, auto, engineering and banking. Heavy selling by FIIs and institutions following the attacks by terrorists lifted
the volumes to over 300 million. FIIs and institutions are said to have dumped tech and old economy stocks like Infosys, Satyam, HCL Tech, Wipro, Satyam, ACC, L&T, Zee, HFCL, Global Tele and Silverline.
Zee Telefilms was down at Rs.134.35 despite the official announcement of its joint venture with AOL.
On Friday the BSE closed at 3,353.60. The BSE had 809 losers and 694 gainers of the 1,670 issues traded.
Telco was the only major gainer of the day after it announced that its total vehicle sales grew 39.1 percent in November 2001 on the back of stronger demand for cars. Its passenger car sales, Indica, jumped 66 percent year-on-year to 7,002 vehicles.
VSNL (up 1.83 percent to Rs.239.10) ended with modest gains after it announced a 750 percent special interim dividend. The State Bank of India stock continued to slide on fears that the bank may have to face defaults on loans given to bankrupt Enron’s, Dabhol Power Company (DPC). SBI has lent around Rs.16.00 billion to DPC.
Gold was at Rs.4,540/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.7,305/- per Kg.
US dollar was at Rs.47.85, pound sterling at Rs.68.37, Deutsche mark at Rs. 21.71, euro at Rs.42.45, UAE dirham at Rs.13.03, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs. 156.15, Bahraini dinar at Rs. 126.87, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.76, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.14 and Omani riyal at Rs.123.10.