BOMBAY, 25 August — On Monday, the BSE closed at 3,064.04. Hindalco was up in the wake of stabilizing aluminum prices. Aluminum is currently trading at $1,250 per ton on the LME. L & T saw speculative buying on hopes that the Unit Trust of India might sell its holding in the company. Indian Oil touched a high of Rs.265 on reports that it plans to sell 50 percent of its stake in ONGC and Gail in the open market. Zee Telefilms was down after J.M. Morgan Stanley, in a recent report, strongly criticized the accounting practices of the media major, for including 10-15 percent agency commission generated from advertising revenues as the income of the company.
The market firmed up on Tuesday and the surge on the bourses was led by buying in the tech stocks. The BSE ended the day with a gain of 25.45.
HCL Technologies was a major gainer following its tie-up with Sento Corporation, an US-based customer contact solutions company. Tata group infotech stocks like CMC, Tata Infotech and Tata Elxsi firmed up on renewed buying. Bombay Dyeing advanced on announcement that it was considering share buyback at its forthcoming board meeting on Aug. 28. Indian Hume Pipes hit 5 percent upper limit at Rs.603.75 after the company announced the buyback of 25 percent of its equity shares at a price of Rs.700 per share.
On Wednesday the BSE closed at 3,084.34. Volumes on the bourses were lower compared to Tuesday. Tata Infomedia firmed up after it announced its first project in Hindi motion picture production, starring Amitabh Bachchan. Bank of Rajasthan spurted on reports that the Tayal group, which controls the bank, is likely to hike its stake in the Jaipur-based bank to 49 percent from 39 percent. Bajaj Hindustan was also up on reports that its promoters had hiked their holding to 60.1 percent by buying a 9.5 percent stake from UTI. Gulf Oil India saw a lot of buying after the company formally merged with Hyderabad-based explosives manufacturer IDL Industries. The swap ratio for the merger is 2 shares of Gulf Oil for one share of IDL.
On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,080.70. Old economy stocks were doing well and cement stocks rose on reports that the cement sector in India grew by a strong 23.5 percent as compared to a 7.6 percent fall in July 2001.
Grauer and Weil India saw incessant buying after it decided to issue bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 and declared a dividend of 15 percent for FY 2001-02.
On Friday the BSE closed at 3,119.18. Of the 1,685 issues traded, declines outnumbered advances with 771 losers and 732 gainers. 182 issues ended unchanged.
Nestle a major gainer with a 52-week high of Rs.573 on news that its Swiss parent had bought some one million shares from UTI. Two-wheeler majors Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda Motor declined amid talk of a slowdown in the motorcycle segment. Karnataka Bank remained frozen at Rs.128.90 on reports that its board has proposed a 1:1 bonus issue of shares and a dividend of Rs.6 per share.
Gold was at Rs.5,120/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.7,800/- per Kg.
US dollar was at Rs.48.53, pound sterling at Rs.73.74, euro at Rs.47.14, UAE dirham at Rs.13.19, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.160.27, Bahraini dinar at Rs.128.46, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.97, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.31 and Omani riyal at Rs.125.84.