BOMBAY, 24 March — On Monday the BSE Sensex closed at 3,613.28. The overall activity remained dull in the absence of institutional support. Investors were once again wary as reports came of more communal riots. Infosys Technologies was very much in the news following the downgrade of rating of Nortel Networks by Moody’s.
DSP Merrill Lynch has said that this development is quite negative for Nortel’s Indian IT services vendors such as Infosys and Wipro.
Tata Steel was a major gainer of the day following reports that domestic steel companies are planning to raise the price for the first time in over a year, in the range of Rs.500 to Rs.1,000 per ton.
Kochi Refineries hit the 20 percent upper limit of the circuit breaker at Rs.52.05 for the second straight session.
On Tuesday the BSE closed at 3,560.32.
Bata India lost ground on profit booking after recent gains. The stocks had risen recently on talks of an open offer from the company’s Canadian parent. Kodak India rose to Rs.211 on news that the company’s MNC parent was hiking its stake in its Indian affiliate through an buyout or a share buyback.
On Wednesday the BSE closed up at 3,581.32. Institutional activity remained low in the absence of any trigger. PSU stock, Bhel was in the limelight after the state-run power equipment major bagged a $10.25 million order from Kazakhstan.
In the IT sector, Digital GlobalSoft fell to Rs.551.80 as fears rose of uncertain business prospects for the company in case of a merger with its US-based parent Compaq Computer with Hewlett Packard.
Digital is 51 percent owned by Compaq, which, during the October-December quarter, accounted for 85 percent of Digital’s revenue. Vysya Bank was up at Rs.249.95 on talks that Bank Brussels Lambart (BBL), which is a subsidiary of the ING group and currently has a 20 percent stake in the Indian bank, would raise its holding. The markets could not sustain the gains of the previous day and lost ground once again.
On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,536.26, wiping out Wednesday’s gains. Profit-taking was seen all around — Telco, Bhel, ACC, Hero Honda, Satyam Computer, Infosys Technologies, Hindustan Lever, State Bank of India, ITC, Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industries, all together accounted for the fall in the Sensex. In the pharma sector, Cipla was up at Rs.1,027.40 after the company’s name figured in the World Health Organization (WHO)’s first edition of a preferred list of international suppliers of anti-AIDS drugs. D-Link India was frozen at the upper limit at Rs.81.50 as it is expected to benefit from the legalization of Internet telephony. Stocks of private sector banks like Vysya Bank, South Indian Bank, Indus Ind Bank and UTI Bank rose following the Reserve Bank of India’s recent guidelines allowing them to make bonus and rights issues without seeking the central bank’s sanction.
On Friday the BSE closed at 3,516.11. Declines outnumbered advances among the index stocks with 17 scrips declining, 12 advancing and one was unchanged. Lack of buying interest ahead of an extended weekend and political worries led to the lower index and poor volume.
Telco, ICICI and Ranbaxy labs were the major gainers of the day while Zee Tele, Hero Honda and SBI were the major losers. FIIs were net sellers.
Gold was at Rs.4,870/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.7,805/- per Kg.
US dollar was at Rs.48.75, pound sterling at Rs.69.76, euro at Rs.42.58, UAE dirham at Rs.13.27, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.158.73, Bahraini dinar at Rs.129.31, Saudi riyal at Rs.13.00, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.39 and Omani riyal at Rs.126.62.