BOMBAY, 20 October — The market began well on Monday and ended the day at 3,003.39. IT stocks were also back on the buyers list following encouraging quarterly results from Infosys and Hughes Software. In specific stocks, L & T was very much the toast of the day after the Aditya Birla group flagship Grasim said that it would make an open offer to buy a further 20 percent stake in the cement and engineering major at Rs.190 per share. Selling continued in most of the pharma pivotals. HPCL was subdued on news of the government deciding to stick to its three-month break in respect of taking a decision on disinvestment in BPCL and HPCL. Ashok Leyland rose slightly, after the company said its September 2002 sales by volume rose by 21.5 percent .
The markets were closed on Tuesday.
On Wednesday the BSE closed at 2,994.99. PSUs continued to remain on the sellers list and selling was seen on software counters too. Among major losers of the day was MTNL. Zee Telefilms saw profit taking at higher levels. The stock ruled high throughout the day after the company announced that group Chairman Subhash Chandra would directly control the company. Hindalco reached a 52-week low of Rs.469.35. Godrej Consumer Products was up.
On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,006.14. The markets turned buoyant after the prime minister said that the economic reform program would not be abandoned and that the government was aiming at an 8 percent GDP growth rate. PSU shares were up and BEML, HPCL, BPCL, BEL, Engineers India, HMT, Hindustan Organic Chemicals, IOC, ITI, Nalco, Nevyeli Lignite and RCF all closed higher. Automobile pivotals remained subdued. The government-owned oil companies announced a 33 to 53 paise per liter hike in petrol and 32 to 57 paise per liter increase in diesel price. L & T firmed up on. HPCL and BPCL recovered on reports of the petroleum minister saying that disinvestment in the two state-owned refineries would be completed within the three-month deadline. HDFC declared a 1:1 bonus and for the quarter ending Sept. 30, it posted a 20.69 percent rise in net profit to Rs.1,671.5 million. Ranbaxy also saw profit taking after it announced a 78.90 percent rise in net profit to Rs.1,590 million for Q2.
On Friday the BSE closed at 3,009.76. Of the 1,634 issues traded, advances outnumbered declines with 772 gainers and 661 losers. 201 issues ended unchanged. Wipro registered a second quarter net profit jump of 1.8 percent to Rs.2,204 million. Cement shares were in firm demand. Top Sensex gainers were Hero Honda, HCL Tech and Cipla while the top losers were ICICI Bank, GlaxoSmithKline and Ranbaxy Labs.
Gold was at Rs.5,175/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.7,635/- per Kg.
US dollar was at Rs.48.39, pound sterling at Rs.74.82, euro at Rs.46.99, UAE dirham at Rs. 13.16, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.159.60, Bahraini dinar at Rs.128.20, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.89, Qatari riyal at Rs. 13.27 and Omani riyal at Rs. 125.55.