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K.S. Badri Narayanan

WITH oil prices soaring, the US stocks fell on renewed concern that higher energy costs would check economic progress and profit growth.

The S&P-500 declined 1.2 per cent last week to 1108.20; according to Bloomberg, this was a second straight week of losses in S&P 500 for the first time since the two weeks ended July 23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also lost 1.2 per cent to 9933.38, while the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.4 per cent to 1911.50.

Despite strong performances from corporates, particularly from the IT segment, the domestic benchmarks finished on a weak note. The BSE Sensex and the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty tumbled 1.25 per cent.

However, thanks to stellar performances by IT bellwether Infosys, TCS and Wipro, Indian tech ADRs posted smart gains last week. In fact, Infosys and Wipro scaled new 52-week peaks at $62.75 and $22.76 respectively.

Infosys Technologies said that its net profit rose 49 per cent during the second quarter, beating market expectations.Its net income jumped to Rs 447 crore against Rs 300 crore registered during the corresponding period last year. Besides, Infosys also raised its full-year profit and sales forecasts.

Wipro's net profit jumped 66 per cent in Q2. Net income in the fiscal second quarter rose to Rs 380 crore (Rs 229 crore).

However, both these counters witnessed profit-booking during latter part of the week to close at $60.75 ($55.79) and $21.49 ($20.79) respectively.

Satyam, which is scheduled to declare its Q2 results on October 20, also finished on a firm note at $26.38 against the previous week close of $24.20.

HDFC Bank announced that its board is meeting on October 21 to consider selling ADRs to boost capital so it can expand lending to companies and consumers. It finished unchanged at $33.28 ($33.24).

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