The Hindu Business Line : Dr. Reddy's at 52-week low

THE US benchmarks Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P-500 closed last week in positive territory. Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Hospira Inc, a hospital-products company, helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P-500 Index to finish a tad higher by declaring better-than-expected profits.

However, the US technology stocks fell for the sixth week in seven following bearish comments from Cisco Systems Inc's chief executive and a disappointing forecast from Hewlett-Packard Co.

The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.1 per cent to 1757.22. According to Bloomberg data, it lost 18 per cent since its 2004 high on January 26.

Higher inflation number and increasing oil price cause jitters for the domestic market as well. As a result, the BSE Sensex tumbled 1.8 per cent and the National Stock Exchange's NSE S&P CNX Nifty dropped 1.6 points.

Among ADRs, except for HDFC Bank all the other counters finished last week in negative territory. In fact, the ADRs of Dr. Reddy's Lab and Sify registered their new 52-week during last week at $15.72 and $3.76 respectively.

Dr. Reddy's announced the launching Venusia, a skin-moisturising cream indicated for the treatment of dry skin conditions. But the ADR seemed to have fallen on concern that its profit will be crimped by rising costs.

Weak sentiment at Nasdaq affected the tech majors; Infosys closed lower at $45.47 against the previous week close of $46.53, Wipro at $15.1 ($15.25) and Satyam Computer at $18.05 ($18.25).

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