The Hindu Business Line : Banking counters shine

The US stocks witnessed a sharp fall with the rising oil prices once again haunting the investor community. Apart from rising oil prices, disappointing earning forecast from Colgate-Palmolive weakened the sentiment further.

As a result, the S&P 500 shed 1.6 per cent during the week to 1110.11; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a second straight week, shedding 2.3 per cent to 10,047.24 and the tech-focussed Nasdaq declined 1.6 per cent to 1879.48, its first weekly drop in three.

It was profit-takings that checked the progress in the domestic markets. The BSE Sensex finished 0.60 per cent lower while the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty dropped 0.64 per cent.

Among the Indian ADRs, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank finished last week on a firm note. Apart from banking ADRs, only VSNL and MTNL ended in positive territory.

In tune with Nasdaq, infotech ADRs - Infosys, Satyam Computer and Wipro - finished lower. Infosys, which registered its 52-week high during last week, ended lower at $55.62 against the previous week close of $57.41. Apart from profit-bookings, a block deal for 5 lakh shares at Rs 1650.10 on the BSE on Thursday seemed to have affected the sentiment for the stock.

It may be mentioned here that the Wipro Vice-Chairman and CEO, Mr Vivek Paul, shed some stake in the company. Wipro closed lower at $17.28 ($17.75) while Satyam ended weak at $22.56 ($23.64).

HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank rose on optimism that the lenders will be able to boost profits as demand for their loans is increasing. According to RBI data, banks lent Rs 66,700 crore to companies from April 1 to September 3, as against Rs 12,500 crore the same period a year earlier.

Rediff.com India announced the launch of its new India home page, which offers an increased width of content to reach out to users in India in the age group of 19 to 35 years. Despite this, the ADR closed lower at $7.51 ($7.97).

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`Correction may be in order at this stage'