BOMBAY, 19 May — On Monday the BSE closed at 3,442.49. Bajaj Auto reported for FY 2002  a 107 percent increase in net profit at Rs.5,181.6 million. Telco announced that its domestic sales in April 2002 had jumped up by 4.7 percent against sales in April 2001.

Neyveli Lignite rose after the company was included in the BSE 100 Index, replacing Sterlite Industries, with immediate effect.

On Tuesday the BSE closed at 3,420.33.

Heavyweight stocks such as Hindustan Lever, Reliance Petroleum, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries and ITC accounted for the fall in the Sensex.

On the other hand, IDBI Bank rose after the reports that Newbridge Capital is emerging as a leading candidate to pick up a 26 percent stake in the bank.

HDFC was up when for Q4 it posted a 30.99 percent rise in net profit to Rs.2,064.5 million on an income of Rs.7,265.4 million.

On Wednesday the BSE closed at 3,395.59. HPCL slipped on account of rising international crude oil prices, which peaked at $29 a barrel on Tuesday, an 8-month high. Auto stocks were also down as the markets felt that another hike in prices of petrol and diesel was inevitable.

PSU stocks were in the limelight when the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) cleared the divestment of the country’s biggest carmaker Maruti Udyog. The two-stage divestment of the carmaker will start with a Rs.4,000 million rights issue at a price of Rs.3,280 per Rs.100 share, in which the government will renounce its right to Suzuki for a control premium of Rs.10,000 million.

On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,355.61. Major losers were Zee Telefilms and GlaxoSmithKline Pharma.

Indian Hotels declared an interim dividend of Rs.8 per share.

However, stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs) bucked the weakness in the market. IPCL was up on reports that aggressive bidding had taken place for acquiring the government’s 26 percent stake in the state-run petrochemicals major. Steel major Sail surged on reports that it plans to dispose off some of its idle assets to the tune of Rs.700 million.

On Friday the BSE closed at 3,333.76. Clouds of war have once again started looming large and this has led to a lot of concern and investors preferred to remain cautious.

The overall trend was negative as declines outnumbered advances on BSE with 968 losers and 456 gainers. 124 issues remained unchanged.

HPCL was down at Rs.286.40 and so was BPCL at Rs.285.75 when the CDC asked the government not to divest its stake in both these PSUs.

Reliance group stocks were up on hopes that it may emerge winner in IPCL’s divestment. Reliance Industries is believed to be a front-runner among the bidders with a bid of around Rs.200 per share.

IPCL came off its 52-week high of Rs.139.90 touched earlier in the day as the anticipation over the PSU disinvestment draws nearer.

Gold was at Rs.5,150/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.8150/- per Kg.

US dollar was at Rs.48.94, pound sterling at Rs.71.37, euro at Rs.45.03, UAE dirham at Rs.13.32, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.160.42, Bahraini dinar at Rs.129.81, Saudi riyal at Rs.13.05, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.44 and Omani riyal at Rs.127.11.