BOMBAY, 2 November 2003 — On Monday, the BSE closed at 4,698. The fall was led mainly by Reliance Industries (RIL). RIL fell after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ruled that Reliance Infocomm, the telecom arm of RIL, would have to pay an additional penalty of Rs.4.85 billion over and above the entry fee of Rs.1,095, the highest by any telecom player — to shift to a unified license for offering mobility services that were similar to cellular mobile services.

On Tuesday the BSE closed at 4,707.80. Much of the credit for keeping the Sensex afloat went to RIL, Infosys Technologies, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Hindalco and GlaxoSmithkline Pharma. Apart from RIL, Bharti Televentures was also up. the license fees for basic services. Pharma major Dr. Reddy’s Labs was volatile the entire day. It declared its results after market hours. It posted a net profit of Rs.1.04 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2003. Hindalco was up after it announced that it would be increasing capacity in its copper business.

On Wednesday the BSE closed at 4,744.10. Automobile and cement stocks were in the limelight on rollover in the F & O segment. Action was also seen on the counters of Tata Motors.

For the quarter ended the company posted a net profit of Rs.2.06 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2003 as compared to Rs.588 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2002.

In the pharma sector, Burroughs Welcome attracted buying on the back of good results and expectations that its merger with GlaxoSmithkline could happen soon.

After market hours, Bombay Dyeing declared its Q2 results. Its net profit was up 400 percent, this was mainly due to the sharp surge in income from other sources.

On Thursday the BSE closed at 4,780.52.

First, India’s largest private sector steel company, Tata Steel strengthened after it reported a 100.8 percent growth in net profit. India’s largest steel company in the public sector, SAIL posted a net profit of Rs.5,051.6 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2003 as compared to net loss of Rs.1,583.5 million in the previous corresponding period. Then came the much awaited results from consumer goods giant, Hindustan Lever. It reported a 7.24 percent rise in Q3 net profit. The country’s largest commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI) fell when it posted lower then expected results.

Rayban Sun Optics was locked at the 20 percent upper circuit at Rs.67.25, after its parent made an open offer to acquire 20 percent.

The offer price of Rs.174.98 per share is at a premium of 160 percent to the current market price.

On Friday the BSE closed at 4,906.87.

Of the 1,848 issues traded on the BSE, there were 1,006 gainers and 741 losers, while 101 issues ended unchanged. VSNL was one of the major losers of the day.

Gold was at Rs.5,820/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.8,360/- per Kg.

US dollar was at Rs.45.30, pound sterling at Rs.76.54, euro at Rs.52.58, UAE dirham at Rs.12.32, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.153.78, Bahraini dinar at Rs.119.41, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.07, Qatari riyal at Rs.12.43 and Omani riyal at Rs.117.56.