The Hindu Business Line : Firm ending

ON hopes that the country's economic growth would be promising, the US stocks rallied strongly. According to Bloomberg, benchmarks recorded their biggest weekly rise since the period ending April 2. The S&P's 500 Index gained 2.5 per cent, and snapped its longest weekly losing streak since February 2003. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 2.2 per cent and the tech-focussed Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 3.9 per cent.

But the domestic markets suffered on worries over reforms. Led by power and banking stocks the BSE Sensex tumbled 3.15 per cent and the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty crashed 3.3 per cent after the new Government released its common minimum programme, which raised doubts about the continuity of reforms.

However, most Indian ADRs, particularly IT counters, finished last week on positive note. The confidence on US economy and the fall in rupee value against the US dollar seemed to have boded well for the tech counters. Infosys closed the week higher at $82.75 against the previous week close of $80.97, Wipro at $44.4 ($42.37) and Satyam at $19.54 ($18.48).

Pharma major Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, however, finished in negative territory at $18.52 ($18.92). The company's group profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2004, fell 72 per cent on one-time charges, competition and research costs. The group's profit including that of its subsidiaries dropped to Rs 16.20 crore in the three months ended March 31 from Rs 62.30 crore a year earlier.

ICICI Bank ADR also closed marginally higher at $12.87 ($12.73) after the bank said that it has overtaken HDFC, home loan market, for the fiscal 2003-04 by registering disbursements of Rs 13,278 crore.0

The divergent trend in the US and Indian markets helped a few Indian counters to widen their premiums. Satyam's premium improved to 45.65 per cent (38.05 per cent), Wipro to 34.2 per cent (27.11 per cent) and HDFC Bank to 16.10 per cent (8.86 per cent).

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