BOMBAY, 16 November 2003 — The Indian stock markets, this week witnessed profit-taking at every surge and now the overall mood on the bourses has turned cautious.

On Monday, the BSE ended the day at 4,998.57. The big news was the Sensex undergoing a facelift, with five of the existing scrips replaced by five new entrants. The outgoing scrips include — Glaxo, HCL Tech, Nestle, Castrol and Colgate. The incoming scrips are — HDFC Bank, Wipro, Bharti Televentures, Tata Power and ONGC.

Among the five new sensex stocks, Tata Power, HDFC and ONGC made their debut with a gains, while Bharti Tele-Ventures and Wipro lost. Pharma stocks were also in the limelight as many fund managers feel that quite a few of the mid-cap Pharma stocks were quoting at attractive valuations and provide a good investment opportunity. Escorts Ltd. advanced after Rajan Nanda was quoted on a television channel saying that the company would declare profits from the next quarter.

On Tuesday, the BSE closed at 5,030.64. Hotel stocks were also firm as analysts say that the industry is in a turnaround phase with more tourist and business arrivals expected in the current fiscal. Hotel gainers include — Indian Hotels, EIH, ITC Hotels, Hotel Leela Ventures and Asian Hotels. It has also been that mutual funds are reducing their holdings in large cap stocks like Tisco, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries.

On Wednesday, the BSE ended the day at 5,005.77. Housing finance stocks were finding much support in the market on the belief that due to the rates cuts on housing loans, there is now a strong demand for the loans. Cement stocks catering to the south Indian market were also up on reports that cement prices had been hiked in south India. Gainers included Madras Cements and India Cements. Indian Oil Corporation saw immense buying from FIIs.

On Thursday the BSE closed at 4,949.16. Grasim Industries was the biggest gainer on sustained buying support from market players. Selective buying was witnessed in the auto sector wherein car major, Maruti, emerged as the major gainer while two-wheeler major, LML registered the highest decline.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex closed at 4,865.83. During the session 14 stocks hit new lows while 61 stocks touched new highs. Selling pressure continued to heighten on talk that exchanges have been asking brokers to reduce outstanding exposures in the spot as well as the derivatives market. Stocks like L&T, Zee Telefilms, Satyam Computer, Grasim, and Ranbaxy Laboratories were among the major losers on the Sensex. Raymond was up on hopes of increased business to Indian suppliers from US retailing giant Wal-Mart. Jindal Iron & Steel Company and Jindal Vijaynagar Steel saw hectic activity after the merger ratio (1:16) between the two companies was announced.

Gold was at Rs. 5,865/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.8,440/- per kg.

US dollar was at Rs.45.34, pound sterling at Rs.75.87, euro at Rs. 53.49, UAE dirham at Rs.12.36, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.154.24, Bahraini dinar at Rs.120.43, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.11, Qatari riyal at Rs.12.47 and Omani riyal at Rs.117.93.