BOMBAY, 14 July — This week Indian business lost Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the Rs. 65,000 crore Reliance group.
On Monday the BSE closed at 3357.66 led mainly by gains in Reliance group stocks. There was no apprehension in the markets about Reliance’s future as Dhirubhai’s sons have more than proved themselves during the past few years.
FIIs also continued to remain buyers. Telco was in the news after it announced that its overall sales for the month of June 2002 had gone up by 31.3 percent and the sales of Indica had jumped up by 48 percent. IT stocks, NIIT was also in the limelight following the company’s decision to give itself a distinct new brand image to counter fierce competition. Car battery major, Exide Industries was on the buyers list when for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, it posted a 124.18 percent rise in net profit.
On Tuesday the BSE closed at 3358.58. Reliance stocks continued to soar. Tech stocks remained subdued on selling pressure. Telco, cement stocks, pharma scrips, all which had recorded gains on the previous day, saw selling pressure. Hero Honda Motor came off the day’s high of Rs. 343.70 after it posted impressive quarterly results after market hours. It posted a 76.58 percent rise in net profit. Nalco spurted amid huge volumes amid talk that a leading company has acquired about a 1-percent stake in the company from a foreign fund.
On Wednesday, the BSE closed at 3,332.36, following across-the-board selling pressure. For Q1, Infosys posted a 14.10 percent rise in net profit to Rs. 216.85 crore on an income of Rs. 764.62 crores. Ranbaxy Labs was in the limelight after it announced consideration of the issue of bonus shares at its forthcoming board meeting on July 18. Indian Aluminium surged on news the company is expanding its capacity at the Hirakud smelter to 57,000 tpa.
On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,290.56. Tech stocks slipped on the back of rumors of possible accounting irregularities by Rolta India. Moreover, FIIs and local funds also turned sellers. Banking, cement, automobile, most of the stocks were down. Rolta India was one of the biggest losers of the day on the rumors of possible accounting problems though the company denied that it had inflated sales and overstated profit. Aditya Birla group company, Indo Gulf Corporation was up when for Q1 it posted a 35.19 percent rise in net profit.
And also with the recovery of copper prices at the London Metal Exchange, the realization from copper is expected to improve in the second half of this fiscal.
On Friday, the BSE closed 3,305.83. Buying in select New as well as Old Economy stocks led to the recovery on the bourses. Public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks were back in the limelight on hopes that the government’s divestment program may gather momentum.
For the coming week, the markets are expected to remain buoyant. Gold was at Rs. 5,200/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs. 8,500/- per kg.
US$ was at Rs. 48.78, Pound Sterling at Rs. 75.29, Euro at Rs. 47.08, UAE Dirham at Rs. 13.28, Kuwaiti Dinar at Rs. 161.80, Bahraini Dinar at Rs. 129.01, Saudi Riyal at Rs. 13.01, Qatari Riyal at Rs. 13.40 and Omani Riyal at Rs. 126.69.