BOMBAY, 10 June — The markets are perturbed about SEBI’s forthcoming ban on badla which comes into effect the first week in July. The fact weighed so heavily on the markets that it completely ignored the fact that FIIs have made a 44 percent increase in net investments in the Indian capital market in the first five months of 2001. Net equity investments rose by almost 48.5 percent while they made net sales of Rs. 95.6 crore in the debt market. According to ICICI Securities (I-Sec), the GDP growth in the current fiscal is likely to be below 5.7 percent.
On Monday the Sensex closed at 3,498 and the NSE Nifty closed at 1,127.20. Heavyweights such as Infosys, Satyam, ITC, Tisco, SSI, Grasim and HLL tumbled sharply. Dr. Reddy was the top gainer in the Sensex with the scrip gaining by Rs. 39 to close at Rs. 1,478.
Despite impressive FY01 results, Tisco witnessed profit booking from higher levels. Cement major — Grasim witnessed heavy selling pressure and remained depressed till the end of day. L&T and Gujarat Ambuja witnessed profit booking while ACC posted modest gains.
On Tuesday the BSE closed at 3,460.64 and the NSE at 1,116. There was selling on IT counters such as NIIT, Satyam Computers and others. On the other hand, Infosys was up with the announcement of a joint venture with American Express, Tibco Software & Westbbridge Capital. Cigarettes major ITC also lost ground on selling pressure following objections by some Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)’s directors to investing in tobacco companies as tobacco is harmful to the life insurance business. LIC has about an 8.5 percent stake in ITC and is unlikely to make further investments in the company.
Bajaj Auto announced a 42 percent jump in motorcycle sales in May 2001. Siemens also gained ground following the central government’s nod for the buy-back plans of Siemens India.
On Wednesday. the BSE closed at 3,457.31 and the NSE at 1,115.7. Reliance group heavyweights Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum lost ground on profit booking. Selling was also seen on Tata group pivotals such as Telco, Tisco and ACC. Scrips such as Colgate, Castrol, Hindalco and Nestle also settled in the red.
Selective buying was seen in such stocks as ICICI and State Bank of India . And ITC and HLL which lost on Tuesday were back on the buyers list. Tata Infomedia hit the 8 percent upper limit after the company announced it would consider a bonus issue on 14 June 2001.
On Thursday the Sensex closed at 3,457. MNC pharma major - Glaxo was hammered drastically due to lower sales in the first five months of 2001. The scrip closed at Rs. 320, down by Rs. 25. Both Telco and Tisco lost ground. Cement major - L&T — was weak but Gujarat Ambuja and ACC rebounded.
On Friday, the BSE closed at 3,495.84 and the Nifty at 1,127.35. Among the PSU stocks, BHEL was up with reports that it would reduce laborr costs by an early retirement scheme. ICICI was the top gainer at Rs. 79.30, up 2.12 percent, after Moody’s reported that it had placed the company on review.
ITC was down, following a worlwide slump in tobacco stocks on news that a California court slapped cigarette-maker Philip Morris with a record $3-billion in damages.
Gold was at Rs. 4,350/- per 10 gms and Silver was at Rs. 7,390/- per Kg. US$ was at Rs. 46.96, Pound Sterling at Rs. 65.45, Deustche Mark at Rs. 20.39, Euro at Rs. 39.87, UAE Dhm at Rs. 12.80, Kuwaiti Dinar at Rs. 152.47, Bahraini Dinar at Rs. 12.53, Saudi Riyal at Rs. 12.91, Qatari Riyal at Rs. 124.68 and Omani Riyal at Rs. 122.09.
