BOMBAY, 18 August — The monsoon has at last lifted the dark clouds of pessimism hanging over the country.
On Monday the BSE closed at 3,008.91. Ranbaxy Labs set the mood further after it announced an interim dividend of 50 percent for the year 2002.
Hero Honda Motor and Bajaj Auto were also steady on selective buying. On the other hand, public sector unit (PSU) HPCL was down on fears that the ongoing controversy on the allotment of petrol pumps may jeopardize the divestment of the company.
Trading was seen in Apollo Tires on news that it was planning to take over Modi Rubber’s Modipuram plant.
Blue Dart Express also attracted attention when it announced that the courier major was snapping its alliance with Federal Express.
On Tuesday the BSE Sensex closed at 3,036.40.
Telco was in the limelight after it reported that its July 2002 domestic vehicle sales jumped by 50 percent to 17,608 units as against last year.
Swil was frozen at the 20 percent upper limit of the circuit breaker on reports that there were four potential bidders in the race for buying the company.
Swil is setting up an Rs.11.85 billion copper smelter and refinery at Bharuch in Gujarat.
Financial institutions infused life back into the company after it faced acute fund shortages and they had invited preliminary bids for sale of the unit in May. Mahindra & Mahindra was also up on news that its newly launched sports utility vehicle, Scorpios was doing well, having sold 800 cars in a month since the launch and has orders for another 2,000.
On Wednesday the BSE closed at 3,020.70.
Hindustan Lever (HLL) and Reliance led the decline. HLL saw selling after the Center for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE) reported that the drought in some parts of the country was sure to lead to lower agricultural output.
India’s tobacco major, ITC was up despite apprehensions over its diversification plans and also its move to merge ITC Bhadrachalam with itself.
But this upturn is more speculative driven as Unit Trust of India (UTI) has received the sanction of the government to sell its 13 percent stake to the highest bidder.
Film maker, Subhash Ghai’s company, Mukta Arts leaped up on sustained buying interest on reports that it plans to enter the television software segment through acquisitions.
Thursday was a holiday and on Friday the BSE closed at 3,065.90.
HLL was one of the biggest gainers of the day with bargain hunters buying the stock at its current attractive valuations. On the other hand, cement stocks closed lower after the recent hike in coal royalty by the government from 13 percent to 19 percent.
IT Major, Wipro was down after it lowered its first quarter earnings due to higher losses in Wipro GE medical systems. The Q1 earnings are to be lowered by Rs.147 million and will now stand at Rs.1.690 billion.
Sterlite Optical touched a new low of Rs.68 on sustained selling pressure, after Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) decided to delete the stock from the MSCI Standard Index Series at its quarterly review, effective Aug. 30, 2002.
Gold was at Rs.5,200/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs.7960/- per Kg.
US dollar was at Rs.48.58, pound sterling at Rs.74.43, euro at Rs.47.67, UAE dirham at Rs.13.20, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs.160.74, Bahraini dinar at Rs.128.65, Saudi riyal at Rs.12.93, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.32 and Omani riyal at Rs.125.97.
