BOMBAY, 23 March 2003 — On Monday, lack of any substantial buying led to the BSE closing at 3,084.91. Apprehension over war led to selling and as the market was to be closed on Tuesday, punters preferred to stay away.
HDFC, Zee TV, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Hindustan Lever , ITC ,State Bank of India were all losers.
Government owned HPCL surged following reports that international oil majors like Royal Dutch Shell, Saudi Aramco, Chevron Texaco and Petronas have submitted their Expression of Interest (EoI) for acquiring the center’s 34.01 percent equity stake in the state-run oil refiner.
Tata Elxsi also saw some activity on reports that Tata Industries will transfer its 18.98 percent stake in the company to a group company, Tata Sons, at Rs. 80 per share, aggregating to Rs. 470 million.
On Wednesday the BSE closed at 3,121.18. Infosys was a major gainers. Power equipment PSU Bhel was up on news that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s biggest software exporter, had on Monday signed a pact with the company to develop power sector software for the world market.
BSES also surged on reports of Reliance Industries and Reliance Power Ventures together acquiring a 14.1 percent stake in the company through an open offer. With this, Reliance group’s stake in BSES now stands at 58.2 percent. Hospitality stocks were down substantially.
On Thursday the BSE closed at 3,192.93. IT stocks saw buying on hopes that the business prospects may improve after the war gets over. Automobile stocks were up on news that there was a fall in global crude oil prices. Steel major Tisco gained after US decided to restrict exports to China. L & T also rose after it bagged a Rs. 12.42-billion single turnkey contract from IOC for building a PTA plant at Panipat in Haryana. Tata Elxsi surged after bagging orders to create animation for a Hollywood movie and three animated content series for American TV channels.
On Friday, the BSE closed at 3,200.15.
Zee Telefilms was a major gainer following reports that OCB, Delgrada, has pledged another 7.6 percent equity of the company to brokerage CSFB. Goldstone Technologies was locked at the 10 percent upper circuit on reports that it has bagged a major outsourcing deal with a US-based software vendor. Yesterday, during the special session, the BSE closed at 3,218.73, up 110.49 points from the previous week’s close.
The markets were opened for a two-hour trading session yesterday to check their electronic trading systems which are being upgraded.
Gold was at Rs. 5,370/- per 10 gms and silver was at Rs. 7,775/- per Kg.
US dollar was at Rs. 47.73, pound sterling at Rs. 74.29, euro at Rs. 50.02, UAE dirham at Rs. 12.95, Kuwaiti dinar at Rs. 157.94, Bahraini dinar at Rs. 126.12, Saudi riyal at Rs. 12.69, Qatari riyal at Rs.13.06 and Omani riyal at Rs.123.51.
