The Hindu Business Line : Marginal gain for Indian counters

THE US markets ended on a mixed note last week. While a report on employment suggested that the US economy would keep growing, although at slower pace, IT major Cisco announced a disappointing second quarter sales growth.

As a result, the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent last week to 2,064.01. According to Bloomberg data, the drop was the third in a row, and the index's longest series of weekly losses in a year.

The S&P-500 gained one per cent to 1,142.76, its 10th advance in the past 11 weeks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied one per cent to 10,593.03.

The domestic markets, as usual, were volatile despite a few sops such as extension of capital gain tax exemption for next three years announced in the Interim Budget.

The BSE Sensex moved erratically in a wide range between 5,820.45 and 5,550.17 before ending the week with a net rise of 90.68 points at 5,786.35. The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty gained 1.32 per cent to 1,833.65 points.

In a volatile condition, both at domestic and the US markets, a majority of the Indian ADRs finished the week in a positive territory albeit with marginal gains.

However, a few counters such as Wipro, Satyam Computer and VSNL closed the week negatively.

The Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd group reported a fall in net profit to Rs 57.67 crore for the quarter ended December 2003 from Rs 69.85 crore registered during the same period last year.

Besides, the company also said that the US Food and Drug Administration had put on hold approval for its version of Pfizer Inc's $3.8-billion-a-year hypertension drug, Norvasc.

The US agency had, in October, permitted Dr Reddy's to sell amlodipin maleate in the US. Despite these announcements, the company's ADR finished the week marginally higher at $30.05 ($29.95).

Amid reports that the US technology lobby has accused Indian software majors Infosys, Wipro and TCS of violating the US L-1 visa regime, which the companies denied having done, the counters ended the week on a mixed note.

The reports accused these domestic software majors of bringing in Indian workers through the L-1 system and then sub-contracting them out to other businesses.

Infosys closed marginally higher at $89.13 ($88.35), while Wipro at $47.62 ($50.70) and Satyam at $23.44 ($23.79) finished the week lower.

VSNL closed the week marginally lower at $7.32 ($7.44) despite the company announcing a voluntary retirement scheme that opens on February 10.

The company also said that it is advancing its investment plans in Tata Teleservices Ltd by four years.

In 2002, VSNL said that it would buy 19.9 per cent in Tata Teleservices by investing Rs 835.80 crore over seven years, ending in March 31, 2008.

The company, which had already invested Rs 465.4 crore in Tata Teleservices, will invest the remaining amount by June 30.

While the premium for the tech ADRs slipped, other counters saw an improvement.

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